Athena
by Yuki Chronos
Summary: The continuation of "attachment of the universe" and the last one. The story that unfolds the truth. Will she get her first happy ending/another sad ending? Please R&R. GiottoxOC
1. Chapter 1

** I wasn't planning to post this today, but I just want to know your opinion about the first one.**

**Well, that's all I can say.**

**Enjoy reading**

* * *

><p><strong>I<strong>

* * *

><p>"Enma! Are you okay?"<p>

"Don't worry, about me, Tsuna-kun… ah, Tsuna-kun, behind you!"

The situation was worse than they thought as the enemy tried to attack Tsuna on the back, but Tsuna managed to dodge it.

"Zero point breakthrough" the first Vongola boss voiced and caught the enemies with a block of impenetrable ice. "XX burner" Tsuna voiced and shattered the enemies to pieces.

…

"Looks like you've improved your skill well, Tsuna" the sun arcobaleno made his appearance. "Reborn, what was that creature?" Tsuna returned to his normal mode. "I never saw such creatures. They're more like monsters" Reborn explained. The Vongola and Shimon were doing their thinking to themselves. However, Reborn stopped his thinking as he saw Giotto was kneeling on the sand and feeling the sand, rubbing it with his finger. "What is it, Giotto?" Reborn asked.

"Don't you think… it's strange?" he stared at the sand, and then he stood up. "This beach has a powerful aura. From the first time since I arrived here, I get this odd and weird feeling about this place"

"Really? I don't feel it" Reborn exclaimed. "Neither do we" Enma represented the others.

"I… I feel it too. It's been disturbing me ever since I got here" Tsuna spoke. But then, just as he stood up, he felt a hard and painful thump on his chest.

"AAHHH!" he cried in pain. Everyone was panicked by his scream and didn't know what to do. Then, something caught Giotto's eyes. He opened Tsuna's shirt and saw the scar on his chest. Although he didn't know what he should do, he scooped the salty sea water with his hand and made Tsuna drank the water. Tsuna started to cough by it, but slowly, he stopped screaming and started to breath.

"What did you just do?" Enma asked.

"He was infected by a poison" he answered.

"How do you know the water is the antidote?" Reborn asked too.

"I don't. My intuition helped me"

While they talked, Tsuna did all he could to open his eyes. But he was at the peak. And so because of his limit, he collapsed.

"TSUNA/TSUNA-KUN/TENTH!" Gokudera, Enma, and Giotto cried in unison.

...

"_Where… am I?"_

_The road that he only walked onto and the pitch black surroundings worried him._

"_Where does this road lead me to?"_

_Walking aimless in the unknown place was the worst feelings that he or anyone had ever felt. Tsuna was just walking and walking with no goal in mind, more like he had no choice but to walk._

...

The young sleeping boy finally opened his eyes. He felt calm and relax when he saw the ceiling of his room.

"Took you long enough to wake up" Giotto spoke. "Relax. You've slept for only one night. Your body is far stronger than you think" Giotto lend him a warm milk and Tsuna accepted it. He drank the milk calmly, but his subtleness only made Giotto more wonder. "You're being subtle. Usually, you would ask me about what happened that night, and now you're spacing out"

"E-Eh? Am I? I… I'm sorry, Giotto-san. I'm just feeling a little bit tired, but I'm okay" Tsuna claimed. Hearing his answer, Giotto patted his head with a smile and said "If you say it that way, then I'll be going now" Giotto was going to reach for the door, but he was stopped by Tsuna's words, "You never stop thinking about her, aren't you?"

Giotto didn't say a word at the beginning, but he suddenly voiced "Aren't we all?" without looking back, Giotto disappeared from Tsuna's sight. As he was gone, Tsuna stared at the door and mumbled "Yuki… every day is a torturing day for him since you've been gone"

* * *

><p>"Tsuna-kun, are you sure you're going to be alright?"<p>

"Don't worry, I'm fine now, Enma"

Tsuna wasn't like the other who preferred to just lying on a bed with nothing to do. He preferred to stay on studying like a good student while he still could. All of the people who knew Tsuna condition came to him to his desk while he was sitting at recess. Suddenly, they got a call from Reborn to meet up on the roof.

As they all gathered, Reborn announced, "Tsuna, Enma. I want all of you Shimon and Vongola to be cautious of what might or will happen. I have read all the preference on Vongola old books, but nothing came up. So, while I'm investigating this monster, I want you to stay alert to your surroundings"

"Got it, Reborn… but, wait! We have to tell Giotto-san too" Tsuna spoke.

"Don't worry, I already spoke to him about this matter"

Suddenly, the school bell rang and they began to go back to each class, but before Tsuna could reach the door, Reborn said to Tsuna "Do you have something to say, Tsuna?"

"Eh? No, why?"

"Hmm… no, it's nothing. Just get going. You'll be late for your next lesson"

…

The night entered the stage and after he ate all his dinner, Tsuna went to bed. Tsuna was already covered by the blanket, but didn't close his eyes. He already turned off the light, but despite the dark, Tsuna could still stare at the roof by the ray of light that penetrated his curtain. "Why are you staring at the ceiling, Tsuna? Sleep now" Reborn voiced. "A-Ah, sorry" he startled. "Hm? What's wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong". Reborn wasn't responding as Tsuna said that. He was silent at first, but then, before he returned to his sleep, he said "Whatever, just get some sleep. You'll be training tomorrow"

"Training?" Tsuna muttered in subtle, not the kind of reaction he usually did. But since he heard the word "training", he decided to sleep.

* * *

><p>"Enma, what's wrong? Close your eyes now" Adelheid turned off the light from Enma's room.<p>

"Sorry, Adelheid. 3 more minutes" he said.

"If you say so. But I suggest you have to sleep now, since you're going to help me shopping for groceries tomorrow" then, she left.

"Helping you… shopping? Then, I really have to sleep now"

Despite saying that, Enma was still on his sitting position. "I guess… it's okay for me to sleep"

...

_The unwanted sight had returned to the very young Vongola tenth, a road with no return or goal._

"_Not this again" Tsuna sighed, but he still walked along the path. He walked and walked until the dream had ended._

...

Exactly 6 o'clock he woke up from his dream. By then, Reborn was already waiting for Tsuna. The training he took was at the very same place where they undertake the first trial of arcobaleno arc. With the usual trio at his side, they trained together and helped him to get stronger. Of course, their training was a battle between them and Reborn cooperated with Giotto. The result was pretty much guessed. They lost.

After the hard training, Tsuna went back to his house along with the others. While Fuuta covered Tsuna's wounds with bandages at his yard, Tsuna spoke "I never recall training with Giotto-san would be this difficult and risk my life"

"Speaking of Giotto-san, where is he?" Tsuna asked. Right after he said that, Giotto came from inside, asking "Tsuna, do you see the Vongola universe ring somewhere?"

"Ah, I forgot. I must've left it on Enma's house"

"Then, I'll get it myself" Giotto was going to head outside, but someone from outside stopped him with another figure. "No need for that. Here's the ring" Enma let out the ring. However, Giotto didn't say anything much or thanked him. After he received the ring, he immediately left the house.

"Well, he seems in a hurry. What's with him?" Enma asked Tsuna, but Tsuna didn't know the answer. "He just got a call from ninth to meet with him, although the place is classified" Reborn answer in his stead.

"That ring belongs to Chronos Yuki, right? What was she like?" Enma asked.

"She was smart, kind, beautiful, and warm, although sometimes she can be cold and distant. She's a vampire who was always protecting us and sacrificed her life for us" Tsuna answered. "She's precious to us" he added. "Then, what was she to Giotto-kun? Enma asked again. "You have to ask him that yourself, Enma"

"I see. Well, thanks for your answer, Tsuna-kun"

…

"Thank you for inviting me, ninth" Giotto said as he was sitting at a hotel café. "It's always been my pleasure to have a relaxing moments with the founder of Vongola like this" ninth gave his usual smile.

The current and the former boss talked about anything there was to talk about casually. But in the middle of the conversation, ninth saw the anomaly on him.

"Why don't you stop forcing yourself?" ninth suddenly spoke. "What exactly do you mean, ninth?" Giotto asked. "You're resembles Tsunayoshi so much and I can tell every expression you're making"

"You should go home now" he added.

"I'm fine. You know very well I'm not weak"

"Is it really hard to be alone at that house?"

"It's more like mansion, but…"

"You really do feel lonely. I wish she would know about this. But I'm sure she wanted you to be strong. So, please go home now and take some rest"

"If you say it that way, I will. Then, I'll be going now"

...

"_An old castle? Where am I?" Giotto walked down the hallway aimlessly. The surroundings were filthy and dusts surrounded the place._

"…_."_

"_Who's there?" he heard a faint voice and headed to the source. He discovered an underground passage way and walked quietly so he couldn't be heard. As he arrived at the place, he saw a girl was kneeling while being tied up and a gun that was pointed at her forehead. The person started to pull the trigger slowly._

"_Go to hell, Yuki"_

" _Yuki? Yuki?" Giotto ran towards her, but it was too late. The trigger was pulled. Giotto stopped and watched the scene of the murder with horror. When he was about to head for her again, something had happened._

"_Yuki—what's… this? Why can't I move?" he struggled to move, but it was futile. The dead body waited for no one as it started to disappear in front of his eyes._

_He was desperately trying to reach his hand to her. "Yuki, where are you going? Don't do this again! Yuki!"_

_..._

"Yuki! Wait!"

Stretching his hand as he woke up from his nightmare, Giotto couldn't stop sweating from the dream. He sat on his bed and palmed his face with disturbed face as he kept thinking his dream.

"Giotto-san" a voice suddenly heard. "Giotto-san, are you there?"

After discovered the source of the voice, Giotto picked up the communication device. "Ah, Giotto-san. Glad you're awake. We have a situation here. Please go to the park as soon as you can and be careful on your way". After Tsuna ended the call—However, Giotto didn't catch the meaning behind his phrase.

"Be careful?"

…

"Okay, you're all here. Listen, few of those monsters have showed up here and they're circling around this perimeter. Without waking anyone, I want you to find them and defeat them" Reborn ordered. As his order had said, everyone began to separate.

"Tch! Why do I have to be with you of all people?" Gokudera protested. "Shut up, herbivore. My body is itching to bite you to death, but the baby asked me to fight those monsters instead. I'll let you go for now". Suddenly, they felt a hostile presence in front of them and they readied themselves. "Come out" Hibari spoke.

Elsewhere, Giotto and Tsuna were searching for any sign of enemy. They were alone since Reborn was with Yamamoto and Ryohei. None of them spoke a word like the rest of the group. Both of them were mixed up by the same thoughts. As they still searching, Giotto finally spoke, "Where could they be?"

"I don't know, but I have a bad feeling about this" Tsuna replied. "Hm? What's wrong?" Tsuna asked as he saw Giotto was looking at Tsuna.

"Did you hear that?"

"Hear what?"

"A whisper"

"Huh? Stop joking around, Giotto-san. You're scaring me" Tsuna felt uneasy. "I'm not. It looks like…" as Giotto was going to speak, the communication device rang and they picked it up.

"Sawada! Primo!" the loud Vongola sun called, "Yamamoto and I have defeated one of them. What's your situation?"

"We haven't encountered one of them yet. Have you heard from Gokudera-kun and Hibari-san?" Tsuna asked. Speak of the devils, all of the sudden, Gokudera interfered the call. "Tenth! Lawn head! You all need to hear this. We just saw one of them, but it ran away. So, Hibari is chasing it now"

"Do you know where they're going?" Tsuna asked. "I'm afraid I lost track of them. I'm sorry, tenth"

"Try that beach. The beach that we just went from the previous battle" Giotto suggested. "Are you sure?" Tsuna asked. "Someone who knows about this very well told me"

And just like he said, they went to the beach. Their trip was paid off, thanks to Giotto's suggestion. As they arrived, they saw Hibari and the 'thing' were fighting. But Hibari was full of wounds. Seeing this, Tsuna and everyone said that Hibari should take a rest, but he was no Hibari if he agreed with it.

"Stay out of this, herbivores. This is my prey" he said. Reluctantly, they let the wounded Hibari fight.

30 minutes had passed, but the outcome was still unclear. Hibari's face got paler as the fight continued. To add more the difficulty, the monster absorbed the sea water and it became more vicious. The aura they felt was strong and they could sense the danger from it. However, Hibari was too stubborn to get or be helped. When all hope had lost, a mini version of black hole appeared behind the monster. The power of the absorption was so strong that the monster successfully sucked inside. Mysteriously after it sucked the monster, the hole disappeared, dumbfounding everyone.

"What… was that about?" Tsuna widened his eyes. "More importantly, why it only sucked the monster and not us?" Giotto spoke.

"Giotto's right. Tsuna and Giotto are right all along. There is something fishy about this beach" Reborn said while sitting on Giotto's shoulder. "So, what are you going to do, Reborn?" Giotto asked.

"I have to add this beach on my list" he answered. Right after he answered that, Adelheid came to them, panting as if she was running. "Took you long enough. Where's everyone?" Reborn asked.

"Enma… he's…"

…

"For how long he's been like this?" Reborn asked as he looked the sleeping boy's face, with opened eyes.

"Since I told him to get some sleep. Lately, he's been lacking of sleep. Every answer I heard from him is always about denying his sleep" Adelheid replied.

"He looks soulless" Yamamoto stared. At the same time, Tsuna was staring his best friend with unsettling face. Then, he finally spoke, "Let me sleep beside him"

"What? Tenth, this is no time to—"

"Just let me sleep. Trust me, Gokudera-kun" Tsuna stared at Gokudera with conviction look as if he knew what he should do. The two most wise, Giotto and Reborn agreed with Tsuna and told them that they should trust him and his intuition. And so, Tsuna began to sleep near Enma, prepared to see that world again.


	2. The unexpected woman

**II**

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><p>"Why am I in deathperation mode?" Tsuna clenched his fist while staring at his gloves.<p>

"Again with this endless road. I'm tired of this" Tsuna sighed as he entered his dream and walked. "Enma! Where are you?" Tsuna yelled.

"Tsuna-kun! Watch out!"

All of the sudden, Tsuna was greeted by an impact from behind. "I need your help, Tsuna-kun. This monster is too hard to handle" Enma said. Enma pinned the enemy down using Gravity Manipulation, then Tsuna charged his X burner. But just before it hit, the monster got out from the trap and headed straight to Enma.

"Enma! Run!" Tsuna screamed. He wanted to save Enma, but his distance didn't support him. When he thought he didn't make it, suddenly, something from above slashed the enemy into half.

Tsuna ran to Enma to make sure he's fine. "I'm fine, Tsuna-kun. But more importantly, who are you?" Enma asked the person who was currently standing in front of them, wearing a cape with a hood that hid the face. The mysterious person opened the hood and to their surprise, it was a little girl with black eyes and hair.

"Follow me" the girl spoke and walked away.

Tsuna and Enma stood up as they saw the girl walked. "Why are we still in this mode?" Enma asked. "You're right. I can't get back"

"As long as you're in this world, you'll keep staying like that. This world triggers your other subconscious while the real one is sleeping within you" she spoke, then walked away again. "We should just follow her" Tsuna said.

And so, they followed the mysterious girl. After a long hour of walking, they finally arrived at the spot. It was a gloomy and dark beach with nothing but rocks and sands.

After being taken there, the little girl turned around to them and raised her hand on them. A portal behind them appeared as the girl stretched her hand. "You don't belong here. Go back to your world"

Slowly, they were sucked inside the hole. "To the people who loves you… Tsuna"

"Eh? That voice…"

As the little girl said that, her form began to change. From a figure of a 7 year old girl changed into a 17 year old girl. And by that very form and face, he started to widen his eyes.

"Yu… ki? You're… alive?" Tsuna was still mesmerized. He was too surprise of the sight and because of that, he still widened his eyes even after he got back to his world.

The two Decimo finally woke up, but Tsuna woke up in a shocking face. Everyone got confused of his face. "Is that really her, Tsuna-kun?" Enma asked and Tsuna nodded in silence.

"Who? Who is she, Tsuna?" Giotto asked. "I saw her… Yuki. She's alive at that world" Tsuna quavered. Everyone was taken by surprise as he said that, especially Giotto.

"We need to get her out of there, Reborn! She doesn't belong there!" Tsuna said. "I know how you feel, but we have no idea how"

"I do"

…

"Is it really here, Giotto-san? Are you sure about this?"

"I believe in that person and I suggest you feel the same way" he replied.

"All you have to do is to find the perfect coordination. Miss one centimeters, it'll be all over. You only have one chance, Tsuna. You've been there before. Trust your intuition" he continued.

Then, Tsuna closed his eyes. All he did was to feel. Sometimes, even our eyes could deceive us and we could only trust our sense. Just like those words, Tsuna tried to feel it and as he did it, he said "Now, Enma"

Tsuna and Enma pointed their ring at the spot Tsuna told. They gave up their power and resolve to free Yuki. Although Yuki was still a stranger to Enma, he felt at the moment he saw her, he felt something special from her. It could be because his ancestor, Cozart fell in love with her, but it wasn't sure yet.

Meanwhile, Yuki was standing and staring at the portal. "I figured they would do something like this" she said with sad face. "You deserve to be with them" a man spoke behind her.

"I won't go back. All this time, I've been buried myself with my sins here and this is the perfect place for me" she glanced. "You're just like your mother" the man smiled. "I'm not like her, father. You of all people know who I am"

"But you're still my daughter"

"As long as I'm still me, I'm not your daughter" she spoke as she bowed her head. "You're not", his words twitched Yuki and that word somehow hurt her as she put another sad gaze.

"That's why I want you to go. Behind that portal, every one of your friends is waiting for you. You're not my daughter, but you're also my daughter. You will never become my daughter if you keep staying here. The only way for you to be my child is to be happy at your friends' side"

"But…"

"He's waiting for you too. If you're really care for your father, then be happy and make Giotto happy. And I know he will make you happy too"

The gentle and calming words came from her father moved her to go back. She hugged her father and he spoke "I wish the real me could say those words to you. The truth is, I'm in no position of saying those to you"

"No matter who you are, you're still my father. I will always love your both sides. Just like mother who loved you for who you are". With that separation, Yuki reluctantly left her father with rueful face, though that's not what her father wanted to see, but he still prayed and hoped for her happiness, like a father would do.

…

The night sky filled with star as the Chronos princess arrived, and it was clear with no clouds standing in the way of the glow of the stars. "Everyone… I…" she couldn't bear to see their faces. She bowed her head, trying to hide her face.

"Welcome back, Yuki" Tsuna said with teary eyes and smile. Seeing the smile, Yuki approached Tsuna and hugged him. "I'm home, Tsuna" she spoke. Then, she stood up and looked at Giotto. "I'm sorry. I lied about my death. I…" once again, she lowered her head, but to her surprise, Giotto hugged her tightly.

"I won't let you out of my sight again" he tightened the hug more. The usual Yuki would try to push him away, but this time, she gripped his shirt and hug back. "You're really warm" she spoke inwardly as she closed her eyes to feel the warm. She really missed being in his arms.

"This calls for a party" Reborn smiled.

* * *

><p>After the arrival, everyone left the shore, but not knowing that Yuki was still there, staring at the horizon while holding a necklace inside her clenched hand. As she opened her palm, the necklace began to disappear and she watched the vanishing necklace and said "This is for you, father"<p>

"You're still here?" Giotto came to the shore. Then, he hugged her from her back and said "I love you, Yuki. So much" he buried his face on her hair with a blush.

"Me too"

The two words that she spoken widened his eyes. Yuki turned around to him and stated with a courage and blush, "I love you too, Giotto. I always have… and I never put aside that feeling for a second"

"But I… I don't have the rights to love you" she said with a heart-rending sorrow face and voice.

"You're wrong. Without you, I won't be able to feel real love. I would go crazy if you leave me for another man, and I'm not lying, even if it's for your father. Thinking about you, that's what keeping me alive. Of all battle I've been through with or without you, just the sight of you in my head, even if it's just an image created by my imagination, is enough to help me go through in each day. Even if we share the same feelings, I won't force you to be my lover, because I know you don't want that. Just knowing we share the same feelings… just for you to be by my side… it's enough to fill my empty life" he spoke with suave and calming voice, the voice that always touched her heart.

"And I shall prove that to you now"

Just like he said he would, he leaned his face to her and touched his lips with hers. The kiss he did was a sweet, gentle, and passionate kiss. After few minutes, the kiss broke.

"You have suffered more than enough. So, put that face aside and smile sincerely" he wrapped his hands around her waist and hugged her while burying his face on her head. Yuki's face was buried by his chest. She could feel his heartbeat.

"But just so you know, I won't cry in front of you, never" she spoke, but with hugging him back. "Hahaha… I know. Don't worry. Your weakness is safe with me"

…

The day after and just like Reborn said, they held a welcoming party at Tsuna's house. The event was really alive. Some of them were quarrelling, but it was really the joyous moments.

"Welcome back, my dear Yuki! I miss you so much!" the pervert king, Shamal came to her while she was sitting quietly and was about to give her a kiss like he usually did to every women, but in few centimeters away, Giotto had already appeared in front of her and blocked Shamal perverted and disgusting face by his hand.

"Keep your perverted face off her, Shamal" he glared at him, which made Shamal backed away in fear.

"Y-You don't have to do that, you know. I can do it myself" Yuki said with soft voice and somewhat embarrassed. "As long as I'm here, no man could lay a finger on you. You're mine" Giotto stated with indulging and smooth tone. And the two entered their own world, forgetting the people who didn't belong to their lovey-dovey atmosphere who were staring at the two.

"So, that's their relationship" Enma said with straight look. "Pretty much. But it looks like they've become closer than usual" Tsuna inspected them. "I wonder what made him become more aggressive" Tsuna mumbled.

"Aho-dera, stupid! Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! And an octopus head, too!" everyone was surprised by Lambo's cry. Tsuna and Yuki went outside to check and it seemed that Gokudera did something to make Lambo cry.

Whenever Lambo cried, he let out the ten-year-bazooka, but before he could use it, Gokudera threw his bombs at him and bounced Lambo back. His bazooka flew away from his hands because of the impact and it hit Yuki.

"Ah! Yuki!" Tsuna cried as he saw her got hit. "What's wrong, Tsuna?" Giotto asked.

"Yuki… she's…" before he could complete his sentence, Giotto saw the pink smokes that surrounded the spot were Yuki stood. Then, the smoke began to disappear. But what they saw shocked them.

"Yuki…?" Giotto called as he saw the little girl with her body had been tainted with bloods. The little Yuki turned her head to him slowly. There was no expression or emotion in her eyes as they stared each other. "You're… not my prey" she spoke.

The little Yuki didn't speak anything after she said that. She kept showing no emotions and movement, although Haru and Kyoko who were good at kids tried many times to make her talk. She looked like a body with no soul. She didn't respond to her surroundings.

"What should we do, Tsuna-kun? She won't talk or move no matter what we do" Kyoko claimed.

"And 5 minutes already passed. Is the bazooka malfunction again?" Tsuna said.

"Why don't I take her to the park? I'm good with kids" Giotto suggested and Tsuna gave his permission.

Along their way to the park, Giotto held Yuki's hand, like brother and sister. As they arrived at the park, Giotto picked her up and let her sat on his lap.

"My, what a cute sister you have" a woman's voice spoke next to him. As he turned around his head to the person, he widened his eyes.

"...Nadeshiko?"

"Hm? My name is Shinko, not Nadeshiko" the woman confused. "Anyway, can I talk with you for a while? I need a friend to talk to"

"S-Sure"

The meeting with the mystery woman, it was no mere coincidence. However, Giotto tried to maintain his emotions. He never expected to see such face again. He and the woman chatted for few hours. Slowly, Giotto began to get used to it and managed to talk to her more casually.

At that time, Yuki was completely forgotten by him. Of course, that Yuki didn't mind. She just sat at his lap while doing nothing. But she moved as she saw kittens near the bushes.

She always loved cats since she was a kid and instinctively, she jumped from his lap and headed straight to the cats. After few minutes she played with cats, suddenly, a pink smoke surrounded her again and she switched place again with the current Yuki. She was confused why she was at the park, so she decided to go back.

But then, she stopped her goal as she saw Giotto was talking with a woman.

She wasn't the jealous type, so she didn't mind if Giotto was with another woman. But that woman was different to her. She decided to hide behind the bushes to eavesdrop. From his face to the way he talked, he looked like he was really happy. Yuki heard every conversation as she heard it with a darken face, as if she felt she couldn't do anything but to keep silent. And unknown by Giotto, she left alone.

...

"Yuki! Are you—thank goodness you're back" Giotto sighed in relief. "Giotto-san, what happened? Yuki came here all by herself" Tsuna asked. "Ah, that's… I'm sorry, Yuki. I didn't mean to-"

"It's okay. It looks like you were having a good time with her, so I left you"

"But-"

"Giotto, why are you running like that?" a woman named Shinko appeared.

"You're Tsunayoshi, right? Giotto has talked many things about you. And that baby is Reborn, right? I'm Shinko" Shinko stretched her hand. Then, Shinko and Tsuna shook hands. "Nice to meet you, Shinko-san" Tsuna spoke.

"And you must be Yuki. Wow, you're prettier than I thought. Every time Giotto spoke your name, he blushed for no reason. He must be in love with you" Shinko casually spoke. "Anyway, nice to meet you" Shinko gave her hand and Yuki accepted it.

"_This presence_…" as their hands touched, Yuki twitched as she felt a stabbing and negative aura from her. She knew immediately that she was no ordinary woman.

…

"Are you sure about this, Yuki? Is that why you called Reborn and I to your house?"

"I'm positive. There's something that's not right about her. I need to inspect her further"

"Why the trouble? You could just say it to Giotto" Reborn stated.

Yuki was silent at first, then she spoke "I can't interfere with their life. They deserve a quality time together"

"I still don't understand why you still want to go to the future to inspect their life" Reborn replied.

"If I remain in this world, he could just find me and my plan will be ruined"

"But I thought you love him. Aren't you jealous?" Tsuna asked.

"Of course there's a part of my heart that hurts just thinking about it. But she's the reincarnation of Giotto's wife"

"Reincarnation?" Tsuna asked as if he was having a hard time to understand. Yuki nodded and said "If you were me, you would do the same thing, Tsuna"

"I… I suppose we can't stop you. But be careful"

"I will, Tsuna. I'll be back in a few months. Until then, I'll leave my house to you"


	3. Trust and resolve

**III**

* * *

><p>By the time Yuki arrived at the future, she was greeted by the heavy rain. Although she wore a black cape with a hood, she didn't wear the hood. The sky was so dark by the clouds and the gloomy rain showered heavily as she stared at the sky. Before she walked in the woods, she covered head with the hoods.<p>

"What's wrong, Giannini?" the future Gokudera asked as he heard the alarm. "An intruder just infiltrated the base. It's at hatch A". Then, Gokudera, Ryohei, almost all combatants were heading to the hatch. As they arrived they saw a person wore a long cape with a hood.

"Who are you? What do you want with us?" future Tsuna finally made an appearance. They drew their weapons out, but they put down their weapons as they saw the person took off the hood.

"Yuki-san!" all of the sudden, I-pin and Chrome tackled Yuki and hugged her. "I… I thought you're gone" Tsuna quavered.

"I'm sorry to say this, but she isn't this era Yuki" Shoichi appeared. "I'm sorry I didn't tell you about my visit. It's a sudden matter, so…" Yuki said.

"She's Yuki from 10 years ago. I can't blame you for mistook her as her future self. You haven't changed one bit, Yuki. Anyway, why don't we save this reunion for later? You're soaking wet" Bianchi said and so, she escorted her to the onsen. And Yuki spent her few months in the future.

…

"Yuki? May I come in?"Tsuna knocked the door, but there was no answer. Curiously, he went inside and he saw Yuki was in front of a laptop and wore an earpiece.

"Oh, sorry, Tsuna. I didn't hear you" she finally snapped from what she was doing. Tsuna took a peek at her laptop and saw a video of Giotto with a woman. "Isn't that Vongola primo? What is that? And who's that woman?" he wondered.

For his answer, Yuki told everything she knew to Tsuna and also about her relationship with him. "So, are you saying she's dangerous? Is that why you skip meals?" Tsuna asked in somewhat fretful face.

"Kyoko-chan and Haru came here every day just to cook your meal. They always put the meals outside the door. You haven't eat anything since two days ago and I'm guessing you haven't slept well either"

"I can't take my eyes off this monitor. Not until I figured—Hey! Where are you taking me?" Yuki yelled as she was carried by Tsuna on his shoulder like a sand bag. Without saying anything, Tsuna took her to the zoo.

"What's wrong with you, Tsuna? Are you out of your mind?" the usually calm Yuki got raged. "You need a time off. You have to eat something and be entertained by these animals. You like animals, don't you?"

"That doesn't have anything to do with this! I'm leaving!" she was about to leave, but Tsuna grabbed her hand from behind and spoke to her ear, "You're hurting yourself. Every time you saw him with her, your heart is torn to pieces" then, he turned her hand so that she could face him.

"You feel that he deserves to be with her, because from the start, she's meant to be with him and you feel responsible for separating them since you already separated them before. Since primo and Hibari-san is not here, I'll be responsible of your life here"

His plan worked, at least that's what he thought. He successfully made her surrender to him. "You're different" she voiced as she touched her food.

"From what?" he asked. "From my era Tsuna"

"Your… Tsuna?" he blushed.

"My Tsuna? Didn't you hear me? I said my era Tsuna. Tsuna is a wimpy boy and not smart, but he stands for his Family and willing to do anything for them. And you… you're somehow become more dependable and adult-like. Although there's a part of you that's still the same Tsuna I know"

"Is that bad?" he asked agitatedly.

Yuki shook her head and answered, "No, every part of you is fine. I like all of them, even your wimpy side. Because I like you, Tsuna" she put her sweet smile which made him felt more bashful. After they ate their meal, Tsuna and Yuki were walking at the streets. Then, Tsuna decided to buy her a crepe. But just a few second he turned his sight away from her, she had already gone.

Tsuna looked for Yuki in almost every place, but she was nowhere to be found. Suddenly, he remembered one place and he headed there. Tsuna could only hope that she wasn't there, at the place where she's not supposed to be. But as he arrived, his fear became reality.

"You're not supposed to be here" Tsuna said, panting. "Tell me" Yuki spoke as she stared thoughtfully at her future form being caged in a water tank and her hands were cuffed, "Did I… kill anyone?"

"No, you didn't. Before you could kill anyone, I did something to you. Something that made you sleeps forever and caged you in this place, forever. I'm…"

"This is never your fault. It's always been my destiny to end my future in any way there is to be. No matter what I do or what people do... I could never have a longer life"

"You… don't tell me the reason you want primo to be with that woman because… someday in short time, you'll die?" he asked with a quivering tone and eyes.

"If that means you can't have a happy future, isn't it better to tell him?"

"Only you who know what future is waiting for Chronos Yuki. Of all possibilities, there's never been any good future for me. I only live for a short time. I'm afraid I won't reach adulthood. Many times I tried to end my life, but the grim reaper itself seems to hate me"

Upon saying so, she looked at Tsuna with a comforting but with a slight painful smile and said "But someday, there will be a time where the grim reaper came for me. So, please keep this a secret from anyone"

Tsuna could feel the pain words from her very lips, and also the face she shown. Even Tsuna never knew her future, it's as if she was never been given a second chance to do something right with her life, unlike anyone who was given a chance to make things right with their life. Despite knowing all along she had that kind of future, she kept trying to make people happy and smile for them instead of her own.

He could feel the sadness and pain from what she said. He hugged her spontaneously and spoke "I won't let you have that kind of future. I… no, my past self will make sure of that"

Yuki widened her eyes as she heard those warm and comforting words from him. Then slowly, her eyes became more wane and narrow as the eyes quivered and glossy, as if she was touched by those words and his warm hug.

"_I won't let you get involved with me, Tsuna… or I'll drive you to your death_"

…

After discovering the truth and after that moment, Tsuna and Yuki went back to the base, but as she saw the monitor, it drove the horror out of her. "What is it, Yuki?" Tsuna wondered. Tsuna was shocked also by the sight he saw. Then, Yuki ran outside.

"Wait! You're not seriously planning to save them, are you?"

"This act of default is my fault. I have to do something" upon saying so, she ran again, but Tsuna said, "You might end up dead. Is that what you want to do in your remaining time? Your time is ticking"

"If I can save their lives, I don't care how much time I've spent" and after she spoke that sentence, she disappeared, leaving the puzzled Tsuna.

"Why didn't you say those words? She and this era Yuki are the same person" Shoichi appeared.

"You know the law. If I say it, it'll make the condition worst. I just… have to hide the fact that I fall in love with her"

…

The dawn was dyed with a color of scarlet and it was supposed to be beautiful and it was something that Giotto and Shinko should see. But fate had planned something else. The scarlet sky was no longer a beauty as Shinko started to go rage and attacked Giotto and the rest.

Shinko laughed hysterically as she wiped the floor out of them. "What's wrong, Giotto? Are you planning to leave me again?" she grinned.

"I knew it. You're really the reincarnation of Nadeshiko. But why…" Giotto furrowed his eyes. "Men… never understand a woman's feelings, even his own wife" she pissed.

"That day… you left me for a girl. I always known you loved someone else more than me, but I keep believing that you'd never leave me for her. But I was wrong. You left me, Giotto! You left me pregnant…"

"I guess I should be honest" Giotto stood up, fighting the injury he had.

"I never meant to leave you pregnant. I loved you, I really did. But the only reason I married you was because for the future generations that will carry the name of Vongola. After Yuki left me, I swore not to love anyone or marry anyone, but I had to for my future generations needs to carry the burden of Vongola" he explained bravely and with conviction.

"So you pick her than me?" she asked in shaken voice and darken face. "Good. I won't have any regrets finishing my revenge" her presence suddenly became more vicious and dashed towards Giotto.

Acting fast, Giotto dodged her attack, but she knew it all along. She turned her direction towards him and shot him. The impact of the shot made Giotto moved backwards. As the bullets hit his organ, he held his stomach while blood dripped from his mouth.

"Your friends are unconscious. They can't help you. So, what would you do now, Giotto?" she smirked evilly.

Shinko was so ferocious and lust for revenge. She gave the man she once loved no chance to catch a breath. As she was going to go for it again, suddenly, something showed up in front Giotto and punched her stomach.

"You… where were you all this time?" Giotto surprised.

"You don't look very worried. Of course you don't. You're too busy spending your time with Shinko" she gazed him.

"I guess you have learned your lesson now" she turned her head back to Shinko who was glaring at her like a psycho. "This has nothing to do with you!" Shinko dashed and was going to punch her, but Yuki blocked it with her sword.

"How on earth it doesn't have anything to do with me? I'm the reason he left you. I'm the cause of your revenge" she sharply glared at Shinko, and by listening to what she said, Shinko got more furious. She backed away and changed her weapon to two swords.

"Ah, so you're expert at that. Just like me" Yuki spoke but somehow in a pleased tone. Shinko charged in to Yuki as she swung her swords, but Yuki managed to block it with her one sword. Shinko flipped her body upwards and tried to kick her from above, but Yuki saw that coming and she backed away before it hit her.

Shinko kept charging her and swords kept clashing to one another. Yuki didn't strike her one bit. In fact, she let Shinko assaulted her over and over that they have circled around as the process continued. Shinko was very fast, but Yuki was fast as well.

Slowly, Shinko got tired and halted her relentless attacks with a hard breathing. "How can you still keep your calm down? You don't look tired at all. Are you toying with me?"

"I've caught you"

Much to her and Giotto's surprise, symbols appeared on the ground, circling Shinko, and the circle linked to the symbols that trailed to Yuki and snaked her hand. The pebbles began to rise up and Yuki along with the symbols emitted a light as her hands were putted together with a triangular shape.

Shinko started to cry in pain, but Yuki didn't mind the agonizing scream, since she was used to it ever since her childhood. Then, Shinko started to open her mouth and a black cloud came out from her mouth, and as the cloud finally got out, Shinko collapsed.

"Tch. Just a little bit more I finally got my hands on her heart" the black cloud spoke in male voice. "Then, I shall eat your heart instead" the cloud flew to Yuki, but Giotto immediately blocked his way and bounced it away.

"What are you doing, Giotto? Step aside" as she touched his shoulder, a pain inside of her was getting in the way of that. She fell of not being able to stand up. She kept clenched her chest painfully and with a tortured expression.

"You're strong, but you're too stubborn to take care of your body. You can't fight it in your current state" he stared at her. Then, he turned his head back to the enemy and summoned his gauntlet.

"This time… it's my turn to protect you"

As she kept hanging her head down over the pain, she widened her eyes as she heard his statement. While she held on the pain, she kept staring Giotto as he fought to protect her. But the cloud was untouchable by him, so when it penetrated through his body, Giotto began to feel the crazy pain and as the result, he also wasn't able to stand up.

"You think you could protect her after being hurt like that? You can't even protect your previous wife" the cloud snuck its hand inside Giotto and he began to cry in pain.

"Stop it! You can have me but let him go!" Yuki called.

"Really? But I think I change my mind. I want to try his flesh once in a lifetime. But after I tortured him" the cloud spoke and kept penetrating its hand into Giotto.

Giotto kept cried in pain, but suddenly, he gripped its hand. "Don't you dare touch her…" he stared at the black cloud with a pale face and tired eyes, but with a sharp and stern gaze.

The cloud pulled its hand away and said, "Love… how sweet. But it's not good for my health. I'd better get this finish before I can get to hear another disgusting lovey statement"

The cloud was going to enter his body, although he knew that, he couldn't move his body. Suddenly, to their surprise, Yuki appeared right before them and sacrificed her own body to save him.

Giotto couldn't stop not to believe the sight he just saw. With his remaining strength, he crawled to her and held her body in his arms. At the same time, Tsuna and the others had woke up and as they saw Yuki on Giotto's arms, Tsuna asked, "Wha… when did Yuki get here?"

"What happened, Giotto-san?" Tsuna asked again.

Giotto didn't answer him. He just hugged her body in his arms with full of regrets and sadness. "I… I failed to protect her again… to prevent her sacrificing her own life" he spoke.

"No… not yet"

A voice suddenly spoke and to their surprise, it was Yuki. She summoned an odd-shaped gun and handed it over to Giotto.

"Do it" she trembled.

"No… I won't let you do this again" he said as he held the gun. Yuki knew his answer all along. Hearing his answer, she smiled sincerely and held his hand that was holding the gun, "Do this for me"

The snow princess gave her smile to her only loved one as a sign of a strong faith. She and Giotto stared at each other eyes. Then, she cupped his cheek gently as she looked into his eyes with a gentle eyes and smile. Giotto had no choice but to do what he feared the most.

Although he didn't want to obey that wish, judging from her eyes, he believed that she wouldn't leave him again. And as the wait gone longer, Giotto nodded in silence and put the handgun on her chest. Slowly, he triggered the gun and shot his only loved one to death.


	4. The awakening

**IV**

* * *

><p>Since that time, Yuki had been hospitalized and few months had passed. Time ticked fast as they already reached December. It was a cold winter day as the children and the girls were at Yuki's room.<p>

"How's the preparation?" Tsuna entered the room.

"I'm afraid it's still a long way to go. I don't know if we can make it on time" Kyoko said.

"Then, mind if we help?" Tsuna along with his friends came in offer to help. The girls were delighted and gladly took the offer. Meanwhile as they continued on the preparation, Giotto and Reborn took a peek inside.

"It's only been for two months now. I don't think this preparation is needed" Giotto stated.

"I don't believe someone like you would say that. You know very well why we do this"

"I know she never celebrated her birthday, but she's in a comatose now. And I personally don't think she would like a birthday party"

"December 25th. That's the day of her mother's death… I also don't think this will be a good idea, but the only one who could understand a woman is a woman herself. All we can do right now is to wait for her to awake" Reborn replied.

…

The awaited day had arrived along with the snow which had been showering the whole city gracefully. At one room, people have gathered with a gleeful look.

"Happy birthday, Yuki!" everyone cheerfully pronounced.

The room was decorated neatly and nicely as the confetti was everywhere, coloring the room. Although at the very moment Yuki was still closing her one eye as for the other one was covered by an eye patch, perhaps she didn't know that outside her slumber, there was her friends who waited for her and her precious loved one who prayed for her to awake every day.

Tsuna and Giotto brought the cake and put it in front of the sleeping girl who was silently torpor while the mouth being covered by an oxygen mask. Then, the two blew the candles to represent Yuki.

"Happy birthday" the two spoke in unison as they smiled gently at her.

No matter what it had to take, they did everything they could for her and hoped that she would come back to them. Every time Giotto saw her sleeping face, there was always something behind that peaceful and tender face, that it wasn't as peaceful as it looked.

As Giotto kept watching her face, Shinko came by and called Giotto. Shinko was already recovered and as she did, she immediately confessed her feelings for him and said she wanted to start all over.

"I can't be with someone that I'm not falling in love with. Despite our times we once shared together, I still love the very same woman that could change me and make me… not me. The only woman I only want to be with, for the rest of my life… I don't love someone else, but her. I love her from the bottom of my heart and soul and I already swore upon my whole life that I'll make her happy… and save her from the darkness…"

The rejection words, no one would want to hear that after they spent the courage to say the words, but Shinko felt different. She felt from hearing his words, his resolve, and his unfettered love, she gave up on him wholeheartedly and also hoped for her to wake up and be by his side.

"Giotto-san. Let's go. It won't be a party without you" Tsuna came.

Giotto who was lost of words as he stared where Shinko was leaving with a darken face, finally voiced, "Tsuna… what we're doing will may be the last thing we could do for her. Before she completely lost from my sight… at least, I have to be with her for as long as I can. I just hope my intuition is wrong this time"

Giotto turned his sight to Tsuna with a complex, a slight of disturbance face yet sharp and narrowed eyes. "What… are you talking about?" Tsuna asked nervously.

As the heavy atmosphere began to fill the air between them, Giotto mumbled, "We don't have much time left…"

…

The autumn leaves have withered and the breeze of the spring air had passed in each months. It had been almost a year, but Yuki never shown any movement or to open her eyes.

40 minutes countdown

"Why are we here, doctor?" Giotto asked as everyone gathered at Yuki's room.

"I apologize for everything I said, including my lies. I have been told that I shouldn't say this until this day. First of all, I've been entrusted to give this all to you" he handed out a letter. Giotto took the letter and read it.

.

_All my life, I've been struck by an unfortunate moments, such as I have killed countless of people. A little good luck was all I have. But personally, that's fine by me. I don't deserve any luck for myself. But all the precious moments that comes to me… it's all come ever since I met you. You're the greatest luck I ever had. But someone like me… I don't deserve that luck. I don't deserve you. Every day, the thought of having you is always haunting me. I… have to throw away that luck, somehow._

_I don't want him to see this letter. I can't believe father told me to write down my feelings through this. I also hope none of them would find this letter. Because… I will throw myself away into the hole and vanished forever… and to accept my destiny._

_But if you ever read this letter, I want you to know something. I don't have a long time to live. I'm afraid I won't be able to make you happy. But now I know a way to make things right. Giotto… I love you, I'm always thinking about you and your happiness. But…_

.

Giotto read the letter as he trembled because of the content. Although he believed that she wouldn't leave him, he finally knew her secret. But at the end of the letter, the words were missing.

"What's inside that letter, Giotto-san?" Tsuna asked.

"That's not all, Giotto-sama. Drop just one drop of this blood to the missing content" the doctor gave him a vial. "What's this?" Giotto asked as he received the vial.

"Yuki-sama's blood"

Shocked expression was on them as they heard that. Then, as Giotto dropped the blood, letters came out.

"_I never exist to begin with…"_

It was a sentence with an unclear meaning.

"Yuki-sama planned this all along. She foresaw her future and accepted her death. She never intended to step away from it"

"How did you know all of this? And if that's true, is she going to die very soon?" Reborn asked.

"I'm her personal doctor, sent by her uncle, also a vampire. And I've gathered you only to tell you this. She only has 30 minutes left"

Upon saying that, Giotto came to her bed and gazed at her with a dark face. "You… I thought you'll stop leaving me. Why… won't you say anything about your future?" Giotto held her cold hand tremblingly.

"Wake up! Everyone's worried about you! And don't you dare do this again! Come back, Yuki!" Giotto suddenly yelled and with a desperate voice.

"It's no use. She can no longer open her eye. It's only a matter of time until her time is up" the doctor explained, then left the room.

They had waited for her and few minutes were all they got. Up until now, Yuki always concerned the safety of everyone. She was always quiet, cold, and distant, but she became a part of Family and a precious friend to them.

To think that she would die in front of them, it was the most horrifying thing for them. To lose a precious friend that way… no one wanted that, not even them wanted for her to die. Giotto kept calling her name, the girls began to cry, and the rest could only stood in silence while waiting for her time.

"30 seconds left…" Reborn muttered. "If I hadn't shot her, she would've stayed alive" Giotto spoke in regret.

"But if you didn't, she would've suffered more. You saved her from that, Giotto. But… life is not always what we want it" Reborn reassured.

"Tsuna-kun"

"What is it, Enma?"

"The girls have something to say"

"Giotto-san. This is just like snow white and sleeping beauty. When the prince kissed the princess, she's saved from her death. That's why, please kiss her, Giotto-san" Haru claimed which surprised everyone.

"This is nothing like a fairy tale, Haru" Tsuna said. "We know, but at least we have to try, right?"

With that said, Giotto agreed and a second before one year, he kissed her. But it wasn't like a fairy tale, just like Tsuna said. As the time ticked, a year had passed few seconds.

But she didn't open her eye. Her eye would be forever closed and nothing could express their sadness at the time. Almost everyone shed their tears, although they tried to hold it, they couldn't.

Giotto held her body as he hugged her cold body tightly. Even he couldn't hold his tears for his loved one, so as he shed his tears, his warm tears ran down to her cheek.

"Who's… crying?"

All of the sudden, they heard a familiar voice, a voice that hadn't spoke for a year. Giotto immediately jerked away from her and saw her twitching hand. As everyone saw that, they began to stare at one person, hoping for the best while Giotto held her hand. Slowly, the girl opened her remaining right eye.

Everyone's tears changed to a cry of happiness as they saw her opened eye. Giotto hugged her in joy and as he did, Yuki was staring at him.

"I… I thought you were done for. The kiss works" Tsuna said as his voice was shaken, indicating that no words could describe how relieved he was. However, Yuki didn't say a word and turned her stare to Tsuna. Her stare was somehow looked like a confused one, as if she felt strange and out of place.

"Tsu…na?"

"Yeah, it's me, Tsuna"

"Tsu…na"

"Hm? What's wrong, Yuki?" Giotto asked.

"Gio…tto"

She kept saying their name with the same tone and pronunciation. The anomaly was clearly there. Reborn silently thinking about her strange behavior and analyzed it carefully.


	5. The true sinner

**V**

* * *

><p>"Yuki-san, may we come in?" as she heard Kyoko's voice, Yuki slowly opened her eye. "I'm sorry to interrupt your sleep" Kyoko said.<p>

Yuki stared at Kyoko, Bianchi and Haru with an indifferent and weary eye. "What do you want from me?"

"Um… we brought you a cake. So we think-"

"I don't want it" she averted her face to the window. "D-Don't be like that, Yuki-san. We prepared it just for you. And Shiro wants to stay with you here" Haru picked up Shiro.

"I told you, I don't want any. And take him with you" she spoke in coldly.

"These girls are worried about you. Is that how you're supposed to act? I know you're sick, but you have no reason to behave that way" Bianchi lectured.

As she heard that, she looked at Bianchi with another indifferent face and said "I don't care whether you worry about me or not. I recommend you shouldn't be worried about me. I can handle myself. If you want to do something for me, then leave"

"Then, I'll leave the cake and Shiro here" Haru said so and then they got out.

Meanwhile as she was about to continue her sleep, Shiro came to her lap. Shiro stared at her with concerned looks. "You too?" Yuki patted his head softly and caused Shiro to sleep at her lap.

"I can't build any connection with them… I'll never…"

* * *

><p>The morning after, Tsuna and his friends went to school as always. But at the recess, Kyoko approached Tsuna to his desk, telling him to wait for her on the rooftop with the others. As Tsuna was there, he saw Enma, his usual friends including Chrome, Reborn, and Giotto. Except Ryohei who was already graduated.<p>

"Everyone, Yuki-san has been acting strange lately. She hasn't eaten anything since she's awake and when we gave her favorite cake, she rejected it coldly. Haru-chan and I worried about her"

"But it happened before. It's nothing unusual. She'll eat" Reborn said. "But Reborn-kun… she rejected Shiro too"

As everyone heard about Shiro, they immediately caught in surprise. Yuki would never reject any animal, especially Shiro. That certainly caught their attention.

"Why don't we visit her after school? We haven't done that in a while" Enma suggested. Tsuna was taken aback by his suggestion, he just stared at Enma. "I know I just met her and I barely know her, but I want to help her any way I can. Don't you feel the same thing?"

"Don't worry, Enma. We will visit her. So, get back to class now" Reborn ordered and they obeyed.

"What is it, Giotto? You keep staring at Enma ever since he voiced out"

"It's just… I can see Cozart inside him. As expected of his true descendant"

"Well, you'd better hope that he's not going to fall in love with her" as Reborn said that, Giotto felt embarrassed as his cheeks turned red. To calm himself down and change the topic, he coughed and said "I'm not worried about that. Anyway, I need to go back. See you later"

* * *

><p>The clouds drifted in the sky as the sun began to set and the road was washed by the previous rain and the sky was darkening as a sign of the upcoming storm. Knowing that, everyone hurriedly went to the hospital. When they arrived, they were greeted by her sleeping face.<p>

"Tenth, she's sleeping. Should we go back?" Gokudera asked. "I promised Kyoko-chan to see this through. And besides, it's going to be raining again soon"

"Tch. Why is it has to be raining? It's really annoying, just like you, baseball freak"

"Haha, should I make it more rain for you, Gokudera?"

"Shut up, baseball freak!" Gokudera suddenly yelled. "Gokudera-kun, please be quiet. And besides, you're somehow looks like you don't want to be near her"

"A-Ah, it's not that, tenth. It's true I feel uneasy every time I near her, but—I don't know how to say this, but I…" all of the sudden, the door was opened and something flew to Gokudera's head.

"Th-That hurts, stupid cow!" he yelled while holding the back of his head.

Lambo just childishly gave him a tongue and mocked "Catch me if you can!" then ran outside, causing Gokudera to chase him. Tsuna worried that they might end up disrupting the hospital, so Tsuna, Yamamoto, Reborn, all boys went chasing them, expect Giotto and Enma.

"Aren't you going to follow them?" Giotto asked.

"I'll watch her until she wakes up. Leave it to me" Giotto and Enma stared at each other. From Enma's eyes, he could tell what he was thinking. He was similar to Cozart. Enma reminded him of Cozart, his friend that he cherished so much.

Based on that reason, he agreed to let Enma take care of the rest, although there was some part of him that felt reluctant of leaving her with him.

The storm finally entered Namimori, but neither of them got back from the chase. When the lightning struck the earth, Yuki opened her eye and the first thing she saw was Enma.

"Kozato… Enma?"

"Just Enma is fine. Now that I think about it, this is the first time we speak to each other like this"

"What are you doing here?" she questioned. "Like everyone else, I'm here to visit you"

"Does that hurt?" Enma continued and touched her lost eye.

"I don't know. Maybe… it does" Yuki held her eye with a sad expression and Enma saw that face.

"Same but different"

"What?"

"Your face. I remembered the first face you put when you come back from that world like it was yesterday. It was saddening, as if you felt it wasn't right for you to be here or you were regretting something, just like now. But it's different from that face. I don't know how to explain it"

"Of course you don't know. I prefer that way" her voice became lower but soften, unlike before. Then, she turned her body, facing the window, and said "Leave me alone. I haven't had enough sleep"

"But all you've been doing is sleeping. It's not very healthy and you haven't eat anything"

Yuki glanced him with a sharp and stabbing right eye and said with a stern tone "Leave". Then she twisted her head back at the window. "But… I think it's too late for that"

All of the sudden and much to her surprise, everyone who left came in from the long chase. "Where's Lambo-kun?" Enma asked. "My mother takes him back home. She said Lambo was running away from a bath. Aside that, how is she?"

"She just woke up"

"Really? Then could you please turn your face here" Tsuna asked pleadingly. Then, Yuki did as Tsuna told her, but as she saw Tsuna's appearance, she spoke "You look tattered and wet"

"Yeah, I know. I tripped few times and I had to chase Lambo outside the hospital. His grenade did most of the damage to me" he scratched his head.

"I'm sorry, tenth! If I had been more careful, that would've never happened" Gokudera bowed many times.

"Just forgiveness won't enough" Yuki voiced.

"What?" Tsuna responded.

"Considering what a right-hand-man should do, you have no value whatsoever of becoming one" she said.

"Wait, Yuki. You don't have to be that harsh" Giotto said.

"A furious storm that attack relentlessly to protect the Family at all cost. Know no bound or the meaning of holding back. You may have all of the criteria, but without knowing what you're lacking of, forget about your desire to be one"

"H-Hey, Yuki. Stop-"

"Be quiet, Tsuna. He needs to know this. He needs to know that he's only a burden to you. Compared to the other guardians, you're the weak who try to protect without having any sensibility of your own life and ego"

Upon hearing those, Gokudera could only remain silent and tried to maintain his emotion as he clenched his fist in shaken. "You… you may criticize me or mock me, but I'll never intend to leave tenth. Yuki-san! I'll show you my resolve! Someday" Gokudera stated with eyes full of conviction.

Yuki smirked mysteriously as she heard those words, "Why not today? Be at Nami middle at 11 pm. Show me your resolve"

"I will prove my words" Gokudera said.

"I can't wait. Now, get out"

According to what she said, they really left. "Well, the storm is gone, so I'll be going home now, tenth. I need to prepare myself for tonight" Gokudera spoke and then he left with a wave. "Do you want to watch it, Tsuna? I'll come with you" Yamamoto said.

"I have a bad feeling about what awaits him there. Anyway, all we can do is to go home and take a shower" Tsuna said so, then they all agreed to go home.

While he walked, Tsuna spoke inwardly, "But… why did she throw us away like that?" Tsuna asked to himself, but his eyes were shaking as if he felt sad and couldn't stop think about it.

However, Giotto and Reborn didn't leave yet. They just stared at the direction where they left. "I wonder what made her do that. Even though I've done some thinking, I still haven't figured the answer" Reborn said.

"From the looks of you face and your unusual subtle, looks like you know" he added. "No, but I have a hunch"

"Care to share that hunch?" Reborn asked.

"I'll show you"

…

Skip to the promise time, everyone waited at Nami middle, but accompanied by the unsettled sky. "Gokudera-kun, the storm will be back. Do you really still want to do this?" Tsuna asked as he struggled against the strong and feisty wind, along with Yamamoto, Ryohei, Reborn, Enma, and Giotto.

"Of course! I'll show her I'm worth of protecting you"

Then the cloud started to pour the heavy rain, but strangely—though Tsuna expected they would be hit by the rain, they were not. A barrier surrounded them, but not Gokudera since he was few meters away from them.

"Protect Tsuna? What a joke. Just what could you achieve if you're alone to protect him?" a silhouette of a figure walked to them. "Y-Yuki…?" Tsuna widened his eyes in fear.

"Wha- I thought you're at the hospital. Aren't you supposed to be sick?" Gokudera questioned. "If I stay there, I can never see your resolve. Isn't that why I told you to go here from the start?" she sighed.

"I don't know. You tell me" he replied as his sweat mixed with the rain. "Ah, that's right. I haven't told you yet. The truth is…"

"Why are you here, Yuki!" Tsuna suddenly screamed, catching her and Gokudera's attention. But she didn't answer him and looked at Gokudera back. "Answer me!" Tsuna demanded, but still got no answer.

"Gokudera Hayato. Show me the determination you're so proud of, in life or death situation" a sword began to appear at her hand. That sight made Tsuna more concerned as he started to smack the barrier, although it was useless.

"Why are you trying to fight? Pull your sword now, Yuki!"

"It's useless. Not even a hundred heavy-weight tanks or your XX-burner could break it. It's completely impenetrable" she stared at Tsuna with the same eye and gaze as Hibari's, mysterious yet sharp.

"Aren't you going to do something, Giotto-san?" Tsuna asked, but Giotto was only staring at her as she did the same.

"Calm down, Tsuna" Reborn spoke. "Don't worry, tenth. I won't hurt her, but maybe just a minor bruise is all I can give" Gokudera summoned his Vongola gear.

"Now, come to me!"

"…"

"What? Don't you want me to show my resolve?"

"Have you forgotten?"

"What?"

Suddenly, Gokudera's cheek got cut. He only felt a breeze of wind, but as he touched his cheek, the blood transferred to his hand, shocked him.

"You know better than anyone, you embody the duty of a storm better than anyone. I'm not an exception. A storm never has any exception of its target, since it knows nothing but to swept and attacks everything in its path"

Then, she reached out her sword to him and said "It doesn't matter if I'm injured. I'm asking you to show me your resolve while being the storm itself!"

As Gokudera and Yuki were showered by the heavy storm, although she looked fine despite her condition, Tsuna was still worried about her. Enma silently felt the same way, though his concern wasn't as big as Tsuna's. Yuki was like a sister to Tsuna or more. He cherished her more than he cherished anyone.

He couldn't blink even for a second as he saw the current sight of her. But just like Tsuna—although he did nothing but to keep quiet, Giotto never averted his face away from her. But unlike Tsuna who watched her worriedly as it shown, he remained his calm and acted what he believed was right.

Then just like that, Gokudera assaulted her like a storm should have. But despite his great accuracy, she could still counter it with her sword and her movement was faster than a lightning. "Are you done playing?" she asked indifferently.

"Heh! You fell for it" he smirked proudly. Uri appeared on top of her without her knowing and everyone's and began to use Uri bomb. But when Gokudera started to act all proud, suddenly, Yuki grabbed Uri and electrified it with a black electrical attack. On top of that, she did that with no emotion or expression from her eye.

"Stop it!" Gokudera screamed as he saw the continuous assault to Uri.

"I don't take orders from anyone" she tightened the gripped. That caused Gokudera to become more furious and used all of his weapons. But Yuki managed to see an opening and raised her sword against him. She relentlessly attacked him with her one hand only while the other hand was holding Uri. He blocked the attacks with his flame emblazoned armor on his arm, but he struggled against the attack.

"She's powerful to the extreme, despite her condition" Ryohei commented. "She's toying with him" Giotto also commented.

"From what I see, I think your hunch may be true, Giotto" Reborn whispered to him.

Yuki drew her sword and kicked Gokudera in the stomach.

"How boring" she threw Uri to him. Gokudera caught Uri, but he didn't put much of a resistance towards her. Instead, he was silent in anger as he held Uri and said "Boring? I'm… not done yet. I will show you my resolve. I'll protect tenth… and I'll show you I'm worthy of that!"

"I guess what kind of method I choose, you won't get the message. If that's how it is…" she regained her stance back, but all of the sudden, Gokudera's surroundings turned pitch black. Yuki and the spectators were nowhere in sight.

"Such a shame"

Sakura petals appeared from above.

"Where are you?"

"In your eyes, Tsuna is the only thing you could see. Being his right-hand-man, you're also being the second in command. With that, you're supposed to protect not only the boss himself, but his Family also. You're always judging everything in your path one-sided only, you speculate too much. That will only lead you, no, everyone to their demise, thus the same goes for leading Tsuna to his death"

"What?"

"Furthermore, you're being blinded by your judgment and that lead you often to your death. What good will it be if you're unable to protect the Family and recklessly end your life?" as he heard that, he twitched. By then, he just realized it.

Suddenly, Yuki appeared behind him with a hostile aura surrounded her. But Gokudera was immobilized due to the stabbing aura he felt. Then, she raised her sword.

"Die"

In a flash, everything went back to normal and the storm had gone. But when Tsuna and the others finally saw them on his eyes, the first thing they saw was Gokudera who was lying on the ground while Yuki was just staring at his body with no emotion on her eye. As the fight ended, the barrier was gone and Tsuna hurriedly went to Gokudera, calling his name few times, but he was unconscious.

"Ne, what are you all doing here?" Hibari suddenly appeared. Then, he averted his eyes on Yuki.

"Wow" he smiled. "I sense a different aura from you. But I heard you're hospitalized"

"What of it?" she replied. "You really excite me. Fight me" he drew his tonfas.

"I don't have time for you" she turned her face back to Gokudera.

"Gokudera proves his resolve rusty. But…" she postponed her words then continued "He has proven that he will never back down of protecting anything he cherish and will fight for it. I acknowledge him for that. All he needs to do is to open his heart to his surroundings more"

As she said that, she was going to leave, but Tsuna said "Why the sudden change?"

"Because… he's similar to me in one way" without confronting them face to face as she said that, she left.


	6. The body that holds one's secret

**VI**

* * *

><p>"<em>What's… the meaning of this?"<em>

_Pure red blood tainted the whole field of black and white flower, the blood that belonged to her friends._

"_What happened here? Answer me, Giotto!" she shaken his body few times, then out of the blue, blood had appeared on her hands and her whole body. "What's going on?" her eye and hands were trembling in shock._

"_You did this…" as she heard that voice, she looked behind her._

"_You're… alive?"_

"_You killed my friends… and him"_

"_I didn't…"_

"_I saw it with my very own eye. I trust you…"_

"_You…"_

_Slowly, the girl raised her head with an eye that shed tears and shown he hatred looks and said "I should've exterminated you long ago"_

_..._

The entire thing she saw, as she saw the hatred from that eye, she immediately woke up from it. She woke up panting over the dream. Then, she reached out the Vongola ring on the table near her and clenched it inside her fist.

"No. I can't dwell on it" she closed her eyes as she clenched it more tightly.

"You're awake?"

A familiar voice came from outside snapping her out of her thoughts. "What is it, Reborn?"

"There's something I'd like to ask of you. But before we get into that, I want you to be honest no matter how painful it is to tell the truth" he sat on the chair near the bed. "I won't promise anything"

"Fine by me" he smiled.

"Tell me. Why didn't you kill him? Isn't that what you've always wanted?" he asked. "What are you saying? There's nobody who could embody the duty of a storm guardian better than him"

"I told you before. Bring out the truth and throw away the lies. What happened to Yuki, Athena?"

Upon hearing him, Yuki flinched. Then, she removed her eye patch and opened her concealed eye. "How did you know my real name?"

"I gave him this book" Giotto appeared. "Regardless, I'm still Yuki, though my real name is just like what you say it is"

Then, Giotto explained "No. you're the opposite from her. You have the power to create life, like her. Due to this ability, below your conscious, you've created another soul from your other personality and thus, you and she became in one body with a different soul and heart. In order to protect us from you, she controlled over your body and your soul. Because of this, she had to endure the pain every day. You were once tried to kill us, but she managed to take control. The person who assaulted us back then, it wasn't her. It was you"

"Is that all?" she questioned. "You're wrong in some point. It's true I wouldn't let her kill anyone, but you're wrong. I didn't attack you. It was her all along"

"Despite knowing how a blood-lust creature I am, she asked me to live a life I want, but after what she had done for me… I can't let her sacrifice gone to waste"

"Sacrifice?" Reborn spoke.

"At that time…"

…

"I'm very sorry, tenth"

"Eh? You're awake, Gokudera-kun?"

"Just now. In the end, I couldn't prove myself I'm worthy of protecting you" he spoke in regret tone. "But because of her, I finally realized one thing. But even so, I'm too late"

"Don't worry. She already proved you worthy"

"Eh? Wh-Why?" he lifted his body immediately. "I don't know what she meant, but she said you're somehow similar to her in one way"

Gokudera got back to lie on the bed and said "I don't know what that means either, but I guess I have to thank her tomorrow"

…

"I see. Well, that's type of person she is" Reborn said.

"But it should be noted that my mother created my other personality. Just like me, she had the ability to perceive the future. I believe she created 'Yuki' based on her prediction"

"May I ask you something, Giotto?" she added. "Why didn't you surprised or shocked of knowing what happened to her?"

"Ah, that. I already know what happened to her ever since I saw you for the first time" he spoke while sat on the other chair. "Athena, there's something that's been bugging me. Did Yuki really release her Chronos blood?" Reborn asked.

"She did, but to prevent her from dying, I sent her to that world. That's why she was alive when Tsuna and Enma saw her"

"But why there?"

"Because it's the source of her power"

"What do you mean by source?" although Reborn asked that, she didn't reply it. Then he knew that it was something that wasn't supposed to be said, and not because she was hiding it from them.

"You don't have to answer that question. I got all the information I need. I have to go home now" Reborn jumped from the chair, but she stopped him, saying "I live for her sake, so I'm still Yuki. Like what Giotto said, we are the same person. And also, please don't tell Tsuna and the others about me"

"Don't worry, Yuki. I know what I should and what I shouldn't say. I leave her to you, Giotto" as he said that, he left. "Don't you feel lost or heartbroken?" she suddenly asked Giotto.

"Eh? Why should I? You and she are the same person. Your hearts connected to each other and that's the reason why you stop your intent to kill us. She changed you"

"Don't misunderstand. She's the girl you love, not me. Personally, I'm not in to love. I don't understand any of those" she claimed as she furrowed her eyes. Seeing that, he chuckled. "What's so funny?"

"She said the same thing when she was assigned to kill me. I told you, didn't I? Despite the opposite, you two are the same person. That's why…" Giotto moved from the chair to the edge of the bed.

He cupped her cheek and said "No matter who or which one is you, you're still you. I love you, both you" then he leaned his face to her, but to his surprise, she closed his mouth and pushed him away. "I have no intention of building any relationship with anyone, including you" she said sternly.

"But I'm not lying. I know your existence ever since I saw that diary, and when I said I love her, that means I love you too"

"Shut up" she smacked his head. "Ouch. You're brutal" he held his head, but somehow he was happy.

"Leave me alone. I'm sleepy" she changed her siting position to lie down again and turned herself away from him, facing the window. Seeing this, he chuckled, then kissed her cheek.

"Have a nice dream" he said, then he left the room. Meanwhile, after she got kissed, she held the spot where she was kissed with a full of thought eyes as her eyes gone wane and quivered. "My job… is to ensure your safety and happiness. The girl you ever loved… isn't me, Giotto"

…

The next day, just like Gokudera said he would, he went to the hospital after school accompanied by Tsuna, Yamamoto, and Ryohei as well as Reborn. Gokudera's mind and soul were clear, unlike usual every time he lost in a fight. But as they opened the door, no one was there.

"Eh? It looks like no one's here. Ne, Reborn. Isn't Giotto-san is off work today? But he's not here too"

"Oi, Yuki! Come down now!"

"Shut up! I don't take orders from you!"

"Eh? Those voices. Could it be…" Tsuna and Reborn on his shoulder peeked outside through the windows and saw Giotto was looking up a tree. Then, he and everyone rushed downstairs to the garden. "Giotto-san, what's wrong?" Tsuna asked as he ran.

"That's… look up" he directed his eyes above the tree and something on the branch caught their attention.

"What are you doing there?" Tsuna asked as he saw Yuki was holding onto the tree while carrying a cat. "She's trying to save a cat and I think she doesn't know how to get down" Giotto sighed.

"Don't underestimate me. I just admire the view, that's all" she rubbed the tree. "But I want you to go down now" Tsuna said.

As he heard that, her heart immediately throbbed as if she felt Tsuna almost uncovered what she was hiding, it was written all over her face as she jerked. "I can't…" she hid her face.

"Don't tell me… you're afraid of heights?" Tsuna asked.

"B-But when I fought you, weren't you flew trying to dodge my attacks?" Gokudera asked, but Yuki was stood in silent. "It looks like she can overcome her fear whenever she's in serious or fighting mode" Reborn smiled teasingly.

"Th-Then… I lost to someone who's afraid of heights?" Gokudera dropped his jaw open indicating how surprise he was. All of the sudden, her feet tripped and she fell. But luckily for her, she fell on where Giotto stood and as the result, she fell on him. As she realized she hit him, she hastily stood up and freed the cat from her arms.

"I-I'm sorry" she averted her face as she apologized. And after that event, she went back to her room.

…

"You don't have to thank me. I did what I had to do" she said to Gokudera who bowed of gratitude. I-Is that so?" he look confused. "But I never knew you're afraid of heights" Ryohei voiced.

"I used to. But that's not the reason why I can't do a simple jump off the tree"

"Then, why?" Tsuna wondered. The question that came out made her flinched of shock. Her right eye was quivering as she stared at the sheet. It was the tensing moment for both sides because of her silence towards Tsuna.

Knowing how tense the air was, Giotto knew he had to do something. "How's your condition?" he asked. "That question again? I told you I'm fine"

"Good, because two days later, you'll be able to go home"

"Is that true, Giotto-san?" Tsuna asked in pleased and joyous face. Giotto nodded and answered "Her doctor said so"

"Then, can we pick you up then, Yuki?" Tsuna asked. "Do what you want"

…

Just like that, two days had passed as they entered the cold winter season. The usual gang was going to the hospital but noted that Kyoko and Haru were there already. But when they arrived—again, the room was empty. Suddenly, Kyoko and Haru appeared right behind them with pale face.

"Kyoko-chan, Haru. Where is she? What's going on?" Tsuna asked. "Yuki-san is… missing" Kyoko answered. "What do you mean?" Giotto asked.

"No one claimed to see her. We arrived here around 6 am, so we assumed that she's been gone before that, but no one seems to see her" Haru answered. "Well, we can assume that she won't be back here. So let's just find her around the town" Giotto said and with that, they divided into groups, searching around the perimeter.

Tsuna was with Reborn and Giotto and they went to Nami middle, but she wasn't there. Then, as they spotted Hibari was patrolling, Tsuna asked him about her whereabouts. Though he didn't expect for him to have the answer since he looked like he never leave the school ground, Hibari answered what he wanted to hear.

"This morning I just saw her at the park. I wanted to confront her, but it looks like she was sleeping"

"Sleeping? At the park? Thank you, Hibari-san!"

They ran as fast as they could, hoping that she would still be there. Fortunately, there she was, still sleeping at the bench. Tsuna crouched and tried to wake her.

His effort was a success. She slowly opened her eye. "Tsuna…? You're finally here" her eye was still wane and weary. She couldn't open her eye fully. "Why are you here? Why didn't you wait for us?" he asked.

"I…" she spoke only one word.

Meanwhile, Giotto and Reborn saw her like that. "She's often like this, always sleeping. Could it be because of the continuous fight with the entity?" Giotto asked.

"You're right, but remember, this is the first time she fully control her body and appear in this world. Her body is not used to the environment due to the soul was confined before ever since her birth. I'm amazed she's still able to fight. She must've forced her body too much" Reborn added.

Then, Giotto approached her and carried her piggy-back style. "I have to carry her home"

"No… not there" she tried her best to open her eye, although it was hard for her, she could only open the eye a bit and not fully. "Take me… to the place… she protected the most"

"Where?" Reborn asked. "There…" she raised her quivery hand and pointed at Tsuna.

"You were… dear to her. Yuki… cared for you, Tsuna" as she couldn't open her eye any longer, she shut her eye and continued to sleep.

"_Since when she's start addressing herself as a 3__rd__ person?" _Tsuna spoke inwardly with a mix of confusion.

Then as she requested, they took her to Tsuna's place. Although Tsuna wanted to let her sleep inside, Reborn wouldn't let him. Instead, while they were watching Lambo and I-pin played outside, Yuki slept with Giotto's lap as her pillow.

Tsuna demanded an answer, and Reborn said "You could say after she slept for a long time, she needs to get used to this world's air, environment, and humidity in order to live"

"What do you mean by this world?"

"Now, don't sweat the small stuff" he sipped his tea casually. "I should have!" he yelled.

"Tenth!" Gokudera and the rest came. The girls started to ask of her condition, but he reassured them by saying she was only sleeping. That put their mind to an ease. But then, as Haru saw she was sleeping on his lap, she said in glittering eyes "You let her sleep on your lap. How romantic!"

"Ah, thank you. But it's usual for me to do something like this. Besides, I feel psychology and physically close to her. If it's possible, I wish we could just stay like this forever" he smiled and held her hand.

Though it was a winter day and colder than usual, Giotto didn't mind any of those, as long as he could get to be with the person he held dear the most. Giotto shown his feelings towards her most of the time when the two was alone together, but she always comprehended it differently. She was like her other self in many ways, but they were two different soul. He knew that from the start, but even so, Yuki was still Yuki. He loved any Yuki for who she was, but she always thought that he loved the other Yuki instead of her.

As few hours had passed, Yuki finally opened her eye. She was surprised of the current time. The sky was already dark. As she lifted her body, she noticed Giotto was sleeping while sitting. She stared at his sleeping face with a trembling eye of the shocking sight she saw.

"I… have caused him trouble" she moved closer to him and held his cold hand with her two hands. "He's been here for so long" she tightened the grip.

"I vowed to use my whole life… to make this man happy, for her sake. But why… why do I…"

"It's warm"

Suddenly, Giotto's voice was heard and snapped her out of her mind. "Do you mind not to let go?" he held her hands with his free hand. His cheeks turned pink by the cold.

"Please sit here" he said. If Yuki wasn't resolved to make him happy, she wouldn't have obeyed him. And like what he told her, she sat in front of him. Not only that, he wrapped his hands around her from her back as she sat and it was his turn to hold her hands.

"I wish you'd be like this towards me every day" he buried his face on her black and smooth hair. He looked like he was happy, but Yuki felt it wasn't right for her to be at that position.

"You're… far too warm for me" she quivered. She began to feel worst in each passing seconds, but she had to keep quiet. All for the sake of his happiness.

"_If I continue to exist with this body, I might be able to make him happy, but… am I allowed to do this? I have to endure it" _she stated inwardly. Then, she realized how cold his hands were. "Your hands still cold"

"So are yours. It's not just our hands, our body is cold"

"You don't have to worry about me, just go inside"

"But my home is your home. Since you've been gone, I stay at your place, which is now also my home, since I don't want to trouble Tsuna more than I should have. Reborn told me to stay there"

As she heard that, it became more difficult for her—so as she thought. Because she felt she had no intention or rights to create a bond between them. Seeing her troubled and pale face, he turned her head a bit and touched his lips with hers. Of course, she never saw that coming and she kept trying to push him away, but he wouldn't budge. He deepened the kiss more as it seemed like he intended to make it hot. After few seconds, he let go.

She was going to scold him, but he preceded her, "How was it? You're not cold anymore". Yuki stared at him with puzzled looks.

"Are you joking with me? You-" before she could finish her sentence, he kissed her again. "Everyone's sleeping, so keep your voice down"

"You could've just hugged me to warm me" she lowered her voice. "I know, I know" he patted her head softly with a smile.

Unknown by them, Reborn stared at the two from Tsuna's room, having a thought to himself. _"Up until now, 'Yuki' was always the only person who could embody the duty of a universe guardian, but now 'Athena' showed up"_ he spoke inwardly.

"The duty of a universe guardian is to be the universe itself, being able to create and eradicate lives. But most importantly, the universe always protects the sky and everything, having the strong and unfettered will to sacrifice her life for all"

"Does she have the resolve to light her ring?"

At that very moment, the air became colder as the night kept moving on, but the two was still outside. The sun arcobaleno eyed the Chronos princess with full of thoughts, indicating he was thinking of a plan for her.

"I guess I have to do this" Reborn reached a picture from his pocket and looked at it.

"Sorry, Yuki. This is for your own good"


	7. Disastrous vacation

**VII**

* * *

><p>"Hey, hey. Are we there yet?" Lambo anxiously asked. "Be patient, Lambo. We'll be there soon. More importantly, why did you suddenly invite us to the mountain? What's with the get up?" Tsuna asked the arcobaleno.<p>

"I've been thinking you guys need a vacation. Besides, we're going to the villa that's owned by Vongola. You'll be able to play with the snow or anything sporty there" Reborn answered. "Vongola's villa? Now I'm beginning to worry" he sighed.

Tsuna and his guardians, except Hibari in addition to Kyoko and Haru rode the same bus as they headed to the mountain on the winter day. Tsuna and Giotto sat next to each other, so they had a few conversations on the way. Tsuna didn't sit beside the window, so he could see the back of the bus and he always stared at the very young woman who sat at the back of the bus alone while crossing her legs and arms with a closed right eye.

"She's keeping the distance again, huh?" he muttered while looking at her. "She needs some time alone. And also, we're going to the place where there's so many snow involve, which is something she hates" Giotto claimed.

"Then why is she coming with us? I already told her it's okay if she doesn't want to come"

"She has her own reason. It's not something that we can argue with" Giotto replied.

"Then why don't you approach her?" Tsuna asked. "Well, she specifically told me no to get near her"

Though Tsuna had done some thinking, he decided to approach her. "Yuki?" he called and Yuki opened her eye. "Are you sleeping just now?"

"No, I'm not. Do you have a business with me?"

"_S-She looks pissed" _Tsuna gulped. "A-Actually, I just want to know your condition"

"Ah, is that so?" she stared at Tsuna without even blinking, which made Tsuna more nervous. Then, she turned her stare back straightly frontward and said "If you don't have any business with me, leave"

From a terrified face, Tsuna's face changed to a more serious face. Ignoring her, he sat next to her. However, she kept her cool and didn't say anything about it. "I don't know what you're thinking right now and I won't force you, but just for this trip, please enjoy yourself. And not just me, everyone wants to see your smile"

Despite saying all those words, Yuki ignored him and kept quiet. No matter what he said to her, she neither responded nor looked at him. "I think I know now, you-"

"You're my boss who I pledge loyalty to. All I have to do is to protect you" she turned her face to Tsuna. Having heard that, he strangely blushed. "I'm just your guardian. I… have no intention of getting closer to you with more than just a guardian. I'm just a shadow"

"You're wrong! You're-"

"If you know what I mean, then please leave me alone" she spoke sternly. With that said, Tsuna had no choice but to go back to his seat. "It's useless. She's the type of person who won't tell what's inside her heart and feelings. She'll keep that truth to her death" Reborn commented.

Few hours later, they finally arrived at the spot. The villa was on the spacious mountain hill with only nothing but snow that covered the mountain. There was no tree or any living beings. It was a pure wide area, though the forest was quite near from the villa. As they arrived, Reborn told them to pick a room they wanted, expect for Yuki and Tsuna. Reborn told them to be at the same room for his protection.

"Don't worry. I respect your privacy" she said to Tsuna. "But… is it okay with you that you and I have to share one room? Though I'm glad it's twin bed"

"I also consider you as a little brother, so it's fine. But if you want to sleep with Gokudera instead, I'll tell Reborn about it"

"Don't have to. Although I don't want you to protect me, but if you insist on it, then I can't argue with it" he said. "Or do you want to sleep with Kyoko instead?" she charged.

"W-Where did that question come from?" he screamed and blushed. Yuki calmed him by patting his shoulder and said "Relax. Everyone will worry if you yelled like that". "S-Sorry"

"Anyway, why don't you get change first? Don't you want to play outside with everyone?" she asked while grabbing on to the door knob. "Where are you going?" asked Tsuna. "I have to meet with Reborn now"

…

As the bright snowy day enlighten the beautiful day, everyone played outside as the winter sun bathed them. Some of them were playing with the snow and some were snowboarding and skiing. Tsuna wanted to play with the snow instead, since he couldn't do sports, but Reborn made him do so. He played the ski first, but predictably, he didn't know how to. Ryohei, Yamamoto, and Gokudera taught him with their own way, but none one of them fit Tsuna. He just went along in circle with no progress whatsoever.

"Tsuna need your help now. Isn't it about time for you to go?" Giotto approached the girl who was leaning to the wall while watching Tsuna. "Anyway, where are the girls?" Giotto looked around.

"Who knows" she replied indifferently. The calm and cold Yuki flinched as she saw Tsuna was rolling down of his mistake. Taking an act, before Tsuna managed to hurt himself, Yuki managed to catch him.

"Do you want me to teach you?" she asked. "Eh? Could you?" he wondered and she nodded. And so, Yuki taught Tsuna how to ski first. Surprisingly, it was a vast improvement, unlike usual.

"F-Finally, I did it" he gleefully cheered, but fell again at the end. Seeing that, she chuckled and stretched her hand, "Good work, Tsuna". It was the first time she smiled and somehow, that smile made him blush more than normally and he also felt something different from her smile.

"It's the first time you learn something just within few hours"

"Few… hours? Really?" his eyes were shaking as if he couldn't believe. Yuki nodded with a smile. And so, she let Tsuna and the others enjoyed their time. Suddenly, Giotto placed his hands on her shoulders and said "You smiled"

"Hn" she lowered her head. "What's wrong?" he asked. "It's nothing"

Suddenly, they heard Haru's voice as if she was yelling. They rushed inside and saw her on the phone while putting a horrified face. As she hung up, Tsuna asked her. Kyoko answered in her stead, "Her mother just got an accident. Her wounds are bad, So…"

"Then, you should go back, Haru" Tsuna said. "But… my father said there's nothing to be worried about. She'll be fine… or so as he said" she trembled.

"_A mother, huh" _Yuki thought inwardly, then went straight to her room without anyone's notice. Everyone waited with Haru at the living room, waiting for the good news. Haru kept praying for her mother to be safe.

All of the sudden, her phone rang again and she hastily picked it up. Her tearful eyes turned bright and shined as she was on the phone. While at it, Yuki secretly watched her. Then, Haru told the news that her mother miraculously saved from the hit-and-run.

As Haru saw Yuki, she approached her and told her the news with her usual cheerful fetish. To their surprise, Haru hugged her over the joy. Everyone, especially Tsuna felt a dangerous vibra from it, but they were wrong. Surprising everyone again, she patted her head gently and smiled.

"It's good to have a mother. I think you should go see her now" she said. "Let me take you with the private jet plane. It's stored near this villa" as Giannini said that, Haru left a goodbye and closed the door. Yuki was the one who escorted her to the door.

While staring at the door, she spoke "Enjoy your time with her while you still can, Haru" however, her tone was somehow saddening.

"_Just as I thought. She's…_" a young blonde man figured to himself as he secretly watched her.

…

After had so much fun, they were hungry and they already at the dining room. Everyone was there, expect Yuki. Giotto asked Tsuna where was she, and Tsuna answered she was heading outside. But Reborn told them not to worry and told them to eat first. It had been few hours, but she hadn't got back yet.

"Wait patiently, Tsuna. She'll be here, if she manage to drive away from hunters, that is" Reborn said to him as Tsuna was sitting on the floor near the door. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Oh, I forgot. I'm not supposed to tell you this" he said. "Well, it's leaked out, so I might as well say. First of all, do you know why I arrange you to sleep with her?"

"No, why?"

"Vampires who lost their control are always hiding in the woods, wherever it is and where there's bloodlust vampires, there's always hunters, even in here. Few years ago when ninth was staying here, he got attacked by a vampire and luckily, Yuki managed to save him"

"Humans can't hurt vampires. But a hunter and a fellow vampire can. If anything happens to you, if a vampire attacks you in your sleep, we need to be cautious of that. Of course, I think she know exactly why I invited her. That's why she's come with us" he added.

"Well, I hope she won't encounter a hunter. Then, we should wait for her, huh"

"Not necessarily"

"Eh?"

"Tsuna. Assemble everyone to the living room. I've got something to say, but you'd better put your ear on this matter" his expression and face suddenly turned serious.

Then, like he told, everyone gathered at the living room. At that time, Reborn and Giotto prepared to tell them everything about Yuki. As they told them, none of them wasn't feeling shock about the truth. The expression, their widened eyes, their hanging mouth, no words couldn't describe how shock they were. Tsuna gripped his pants as he quivered all over. But they were becoming mature. They didn't ask any more details about it. They were willing to accept it wholeheartedly.

"Thank you for telling us, Reborn, Giotto-san" Tsuna said calmly.

"Oh, you're not going to ask anything or not to accept it? What about you guys?" Reborn asked everyone on that room.

"We would've been lying if we said that we didn't feel sad about it, but she's been trying to hide that fact to all of us for our sake. I can understand why she didn't want to tell us. But even so… Athena is still Yuki. I can feel even if they're different, they've always been the same person" Tsuna claimed.

"When she comes back, I want to spend more time with Yuki-san more. I want to see her smile" Chrome voiced. "It might be too late for that" Reborn hung his head as he crossed his arms.

"The entity she fought gave her a curse. If after you guys found out the truth, if within 30 minutes you won't give her your answer, she'll die"

"W-What answer?" Tsuna asked. "Whether all of you accept her for who she is or not. I know you all have the same answer, but it's no use if you won't tell her face-to-face"

"Then, I have to hurry-" Tsuna rushed to the door.

"Stop it, Dame-Tsuna" Reborn kicked his head, causing him to fall. "What are you doing? We have to find her!" Tsuna yelled.

"I know how you feel, but there's a strong blizzard outside. You can't go out, even if you want to, you won't be able to move against the strong blizzard. You'll get frozen to death. She's trained in this weather situation. She'll be fine"

"There's nothing we can do, Tsuna" Giotto appeared. "Isn't there's something we can do? Why are you just standing there and do nothing at a time like this, Giotto-san?"

"Please" Tsuna twitched as he saw the sad face of him. "You're not the only one who wants to go. We feel the same way, even me". The words that Giotto spoke calmed Tsuna. And so, they waited at the living room, hoping for the best.

"30 minutes have passed" Yamamoto confirmed. As he confirmed the time, they all felt lost. But out of the blue, a sound of a door had been opened was heard and they rushed to see what might've opened the door. It was the girl they all wanted to see while she was being covered by the snow due to the blizzard.

"Hm? What's with that faces?" she asked as she saw their relieved faces. "You… You're still alive" Tsuna said. "What are you saying?" she confused.

"You've been given a curse by the entity, right? When you fought it alongside your other personality, I mean the other 'Yuki'"

Hearing that, Yuki's face became pale. She sweated and looked surprised as it was shown all over her face. "You told them?" she yelled at Reborn who was settling at Giotto's shoulder. "More or less. You can't hide that secret from them. Eventually, they'll know" he replied. Yuki twitched as she heard that and said with a lower voice, "Y-You're right"

"But 30 minutes had passed, but why…"

"Stop talking nonsense. There's no such curse. Reborn lied to you, helped by him" she eyed on Giotto. Then, she walked away from them. "Reborn! You'd better have a good reason for lying like that!" Tsuna yelled.

"Don't take it too personal, Tsuna. Giotto and I were just testing all of you and it seems you all passed" he said proudly.

...

"What are you doing here? Everyone's worried about you" Giotto entered her room.

"Tell me"

"What?"

"Have you told them about my fate?" she asked while settling herself on the bed. Then Giotto sat on the other bed, facing her. "No. I don't think anyone should know that. I can imagine it must be hard for you to tell Reborn and I"

"It's nothing compared to the pain she always endured"

"Was she really that precious to you? Wasn't she controlled over your body?" he asked.

"My world will be forever darkness if she hadn't done that. I'm grateful to her… to guide me to the light, but… she's far too bright of a light for me" as her hands were putted together, Giotto held her hands. "You are no longer in the darkness. You are everyone's light now, whether you feel that way or not"

She widened her eye of hearing those majestic calming words and voice, as well as the eyes that always enchanted her. "Though I feel it was a useless statement…" she hung her head.

"Thank you"

"You're welcome" he smiled with pink cheeks.

…

"Kyoko! Chrome! I-Pin! Let's play outside!" Lambo shouted at the three girls who were cooking together.

"Lambo-kun, the blizzard is still ongoing. We can't play outside. And, we're in the middle of cooking" Kyoko explained as she was chopping the vegetables. "We'll play with you inside as soon as we're done with this" Chrome added.

"Lambo-san doesn't want to play inside! Kyoko, Chrome, and I-Pin are stingy!" Lambo yelled like a little snotty and bratty kid and left with annoyance. Lambo walked along the hallway and stopped at the front door. At the time, the thought of leaving the villa was on his mind. Even though he was just a kid, his will to play never got out.

An hour later, Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Ryohei were eating at the dining room. They were too hungry to continue their training. Then, Tsuna came by saying "Eh? Didn't all of you just eat?"

"Well, since we're bored, we decided to train by ourselves. But I must tell you, I didn't know this villa has an underground training room. A private jet plane and an underground training room. This place is cool to the extreme!"

"Really? Ah, where's Lambo? I haven't seen him" Tsuna asked. "That stupid cow is probably playing somewhere" Gokudera said.

"Playing? I hope he doesn't go outside to play" Tsuna spoke.

"Rest assured, tenth. I'm sure he's-"

"Boss!" Chrome called. "What is it, Chrome?"

"This" Chrome showed a familiar horn. "I found this in front of the door" she added with worried face. Seeing the horn, Tsuna hastily headed to the door. But when he opened it, the blizzard hit him, but he didn't care about that. All he could think of was Lambo safety and so, he went outside.

"Tenth, I'll come with you!" Gokudera ran to the door, but a flying boomerang hit and closed the door. "The blizzard is getting stronger in each hour. It's too dangerous for you to go" Reborn said.

"But what if something happened to tenth, Reborn-san?" Gokudera disputed. "Don't worry, those two are already there"

"Those… two?"

The storm blizzard literally swept anything that could be swept as if it was angry and got furious that it had the potential to even sweep away a person. Tsuna struggled against the weather disturbance. As the wind got stronger and Tsuna was thrown away. Fortunately, something caught him from being swept away. As he looked up, he saw a blonde spiky man.

"You shouldn't go outside when the weather's like this" Giotto said. "Giotto-san? Ah!" Tsuna jerked away. "What are you doing outside?"

"He followed me" a girl's voice spoke. "I hate him every time he trailed me. So, I was thinking of a punishment. I want him to get frozen. But he's stronger than I thought"

"But why… ah, that's right! I have to go!" he stood up. "He went there" she spoke.

"Eh? How did you know I'm searching for him?"

"I'm not dense. I know what you're thinking. And besides, I can smell a fragrance of blood there" she looked at the direction. "We'll come with you" Giotto said.

…

"Anyone… even aho-dera will do… save me" the little cow kid spoke as he walked while holding a wound on his forehead and crying. Then, he got flashback when he Kyoko, Chrome, and I-Pin refused to play with him and he selfishly went outside alone. Having that flashback, he started to cry more.

"I wanna go home!"

"Lambo!"

"Tsuna?" he looked back and saw Tsuna was running to him. But suddenly, one of the tree branches broke and flew straight to Lambo. Lambo got hit by the branch but it wasn't just that. Behind him, there was a steep cliff and he was going to fall before Tsuna could reach him. To their surprise, Yuki grabbed Lambo and switched place with him as she threw Lambo away to Tsuna.

However, luckily or not, Giotto also grabbed her hand, but instead of saving her, he got pulled away to the fall.

"N-No way…" Tsuna widened his eyes with pale face as Lambo hugged him, crying.


	8. Trapped

**VIII**

* * *

><p>"WHAT? Is that true, tenth?" Gokudera surprised.<p>

"A-Are you sure about that, Tsuna?" Yamamoto also.

Tsuna nodded and said "What should we do? We can't find them due to this blizzard" Tsuna got worrier in every sight of the blizzard he looked at.

"Ne, Reborn. What should we do?", though he asked him, he kept quiet and did the thinking to himself.

…

"_Yu..ki"_

"_Who's that?"_

"_Wake up" the source showed itself._

"_You're… future Tsuna? But how—no, it's just a dream"_

"_You never have any meaningless dreams. There's always a deep meaning behind your dreams, like a prophecy"_

"_Then... this is real? But I already woke up"_

"_You're mistaken. There's someone out there who's waiting for you, someone who cares about you"_

"_Why are you here?"_

"_Let's just say I can sense when you're in danger. And when that time comes, I'll be there to guide you"_

"_Guide… me? Why do you go that far?" _

"…"

"_Say something"_

"_I'm…"_

"_It's fine then. I know very well why you can't tell me. It has to be this way whether we like it or not. It's the law"_

"_I'm sorry… But you really look like the Yuki I once known"_

"_Then… my future self had told you everything?"_

"_Yes, I may not be able to help you, but I can say one thing for sure. My feelings won't change and also, I hope you will realize one thing. Something that's always inside of you, waiting to be found by you"_

...

"Inside of… me?" the girl mumbled inside her dream, but after the mumble, she slowly opened her eyes. Surprisingly, she was okay after the fall and on top of that, she was on bed. "Where's this? An abandoned house?" she wondered. She decided to look around, but the first room she spotted surprised her.

It was a room with full of weapons, but when she touched one of them, it was warm, assuming that it had been used recently. As she went to the living room, she spotted shirtless Giotto who was with only few bandages on his body.

Her eyes widened and she was dumbfounded by the sight, but then, she threw away all that expression as her eyes became stable. "Are you okay?" she asked worryingly. "I'm fine as ever, but could you help me attend my wounds on my back?"

"Okay"

And so, she attended his back injuries. There were many scars on him. Her eyes quavered in concern as she saw his back. "_He protected me from the fall… It's my fault" _she thought inwardly.

"It's my job to protect you"

"How… did you know? Besides, based on what reason you have to protect me?" she questioned. Then, Giotto turned his body to face her. "Because I'm a man" he locked his eyes to hers with passionate and calming gaze. And it was because of that, she was able to blush for the first time.

Slowly, Giotto leaned his face to her and she could only wait for what might happen. However, Giotto was just putting his forehead together with her forehead and stared at her eyes still with a passionate gaze and said "You're blushing?"

Hearing that, she jerked away and stood up with pink face. She averted her face and spoke with a soft and low voice, "I-I'm not. You're imagining things" she headed towards the door, but when she opened it, the blizzard entered the house, so she immediately closed it. Giotto stood up and said "The blizzard is still outraging. I'm afraid we're stuck here"

"I see. By the way, where's the owner of this house?"

"He's dead. I found his body near the house"

"When will you stop exposing yourself?" she retorted. "What? It's warm here" he replied in innocent face. Seeing that, she sighed. "You're a 24 year old guy who's exposing himself in front of an 18 year old girl. That sounds like you're a pedophile"

"Actually, I'm 25 now and technically, you're 19, but at that time, you were comatose" he wore his shirt. "Is that so? Then, I'm heading to the kitchen. I'll cook something warm for you"

…

"Reborn! How long do we have to wait?" he asked as he settled on the bed.

"Calm down, Tsuna. Since it's been this long, we can safely assume that they have found a shelter and they can't go out unless the blizzard is gone" Reborn replied while polishing his gun.

"But aren't they able to adapt well at any weather?"

"They are, but they fell from a steep cliff. None of them will come out unscathed—Ah, I remember"

"What?" he hastily stood up.

"Remember I told you there are also some hunters in the woods? It's possible they have a shelter in the forest. I assume Yuki and Giotto stayed at one of the abandoned shelter, so nothing to worry about. After this blizzard is over, we can go look for them"

"I-If you say so"

"By the way, Haru called you earlier right? Through the transmitter you gave her? Have you told her about Yuki?"

"I have. And she accepted it wholeheartedly"

…

"Mmm… it's excellent. You're as good as I remember" Giotto pleased. "You're not eating?" he added. "I'm not hungry". Seeing that, he chuckled and then put the spoon inside her mouth. "It's good, right?"

After she swallowed it, she said "You could just say you want me to try it. It doesn't have to be with the same spoon"

"It's true, but…" he put the spoon inside his mouth and said "It'll feel like you're eating with me"

Having heard that, she sighed and went to the kitchen. "Where are you going?" Giotto asked. "I want to eat something cold. There are ice creams inside the freezer"

"Then, I want one"

"Aren't your stomach's going to be upset if you eat something cold?" she wondered. "I want to feel what it likes if I eat an ice cream in winter, especially in this blizzard"

"Suit yourself. Just don't come to me if you're having a stomach issue" she retorted. After she got the items, she gave one to him, then after that, she settled on the sofa and began to eat it and Giotto followed her as he sat next to her. As they were eating the ice cream, none of them spoke a word.

"_What's this odd and uneasy feelings every time he got near me? Is this what Tsuna mentioned?" _she thought deeply, so deep that she didn't realize that the ice cream on her lips started to go down.

However, Giotto saw that. As he saw that, he licked it from her chin to her lips, surprising her.

"What are you thinking? Are you insane? Normal people don't just lick other people like that!" she lost her control as she blushed madly while touching her lips. Giotto widened his eyes in surprise as he saw her reaction. Then out of the blue, he started to laugh hard that he cried laughing, confusing her.

"What's wrong with you?" she narrowed her eyes. "Sorry. It's just… you really are Yuki" he smiled as he swept his tears. "Ah, now that I remember, you're right" her expression became darken.

"She and I are the same person to begin with. I just… I never accept her as me until now" she calmly and quietly went to the bedroom while Giotto was staring at her solemnly.

...

"_That man? You always talk about him. What so great about him?"_

"_Everything. And I don't see what so great about him, because I'm afraid that will blind my judgment about him. Maybe, I don't need a reason to love him. But even so… I'm afraid that someday, I won't be able to love him anymore"_

"_You seem to love him so much. That Giotto… he's really amazing to be able to make you feel that way"_

"_But don't you know? We share the same feelings. I was born based on your feelings"_

"_But still… I never feel anything you feel, even love, since I'm just a vicious vampire"_

"_You're not like that, not anymore. Someday, you'll prove my words yourself, whatever the method will be used"_

...

The next morning had brightened the day as the blizzard finally gone away, bathed with the warm sunlight. Yuki slowly opened her eyes by the brightening sunlight. She rubbed her right eye while heading outside. From her perspective and hearing, it seemed that Giotto was taking a bath. She went outside and being greeted by the warm surroundings.

As she was outside, she held her neck, thinking about her bloodlust. There was a sharp fracture of tree branch in her sight and she picked it up. She brought it to the bedroom and stared at it at first. Then, she cut her neck with it and dropped the branch.

She rubbed the cut and the blood got transferred to her finger. "The bloodlust won't appear if I smell and see my own blood, I'm guessing" she stared at her bloody finger.

"Yuki? You're awake?" Giotto voiced as he rubbed his wet hair while being shirtless and only his pants was on. "Eh? Where's she?"

Meanwhile, Yuki hid under the bed. "I can't let him see this body got injured" she whispered. She faced the wall of not wanting to see whether she would be caught or not. As she faced the wall, she didn't realize of what was coming behind her. Unfortunately for her, Giotto caught her and also followed her under the bed.

"It's not just the body I'm worried. I'm worried about you mainly" he whispered to her ears, which made her shuddered. "What are you doing here? This is a narrow place" she talked to the person who was currently behind her as he got closer to her.

"That's a question I suppose to ask you. But never mind that. Did you hurt yourself? You cut your own neck?"

"It's nothing serious, but if you're really worried, then I'll go wash it" she was about to go away from her current position, but Giotto was in her way. "We can do it here" he changed his position to on top of her and pinned her hands.

He licked her bloody finger and said "Blood taste like a sweat or an iron" he licked his lips. Then, he licked her injured neck, transferring some of the flowing blood to his tongue.

"Lick my tongue, if you really want to see whether you still have the bloodlust" hearing that, she blushed and said "I won't do it"

"Then, I'll do it" after he said that, he kissed her and attempted to enter his tongue inside her mouth and as he did, their tongue began to dance as she unwillingly licked and swallowed his saliva along with the blood. At that time, she felt lost to him and all she could do was to hope that it was just that.

But it wasn't like she hoped for. As the blood kept flowing through her neck, he licked it again and transferred it to her mouth. The process kept repeating until the blood had stopped flowing.

It was a narrow place. She couldn't struggle much. Few minutes later, he stopped.

"Yuki! Giotto-san! Are you here?" Tsuna voice shouted.

Both Giotto and Yuki flinched as they heard the voice. Of course, they wouldn't want to go out when Tsuna was there. So, they waited for Tsuna to leave the premises. As he went to the kitchen, they got out while Yuki was still blushing.

"Ah, you're all here! Thank goodness" Tsuna eyes glittered. "Eh? What's wrong, Yuki? Your face is all red" he asked.

"It's probably an adult 'business'" Reborn teased. "I-It's nothing like that, right Giotto?" she stared at him with an awkward blushing face.

"Like what she said" he replied. "Let's go back. We can have the chit chat later" Reborn said. And so, Tsuna and he went outside. While Tsuna and Reborn walked in front of them, Giotto and Yuki walked far behind them. However, Yuki seemed different. She was quiet with a serious expression.

"I'm sorry"

"Hm?"

"I shouldn't have done that. You may hit me, if you want" Giotto offered himself. Just like he offered, she hit his head, but not the usual painful hit. It was a mere tuck on his head. "I should thank you for doing that. Because that's the only way I can realize it"

"Realize it?" he puzzled. As she looked his puzzled face, she chuckled and said with her warming and calming smile, "Don't worry. I'm not thinking about what you did to me. It's just something else"

Seeing that smile, his heart throbbed fast and blushed of it. He felt like he loved her even more and smiled back while blushing. Tsuna and Reborn stared at the sight and their atmosphere. "They seem to have a different atmosphere now. I wonder what happened" Reborn commented.

"I don't know either, but it's the first time I see her that happy. Whatever it is, I'm glad she's finally open herself to others" Tsuna also commented.

…

Few days of winter vacation had ended and they were on their way to the hospital to visit Haru's mother. As they entered the room, they saw the delighted Haru and her mother. Haru thanked everyone for visiting her mother, but when she looked around, Yuki wasn't there. "Where's Yuki-san?" She asked.

"She's waiting outside" Tsuna answered. Then, Haru got outside the room and saw Yuki was waiting beside the door while crossing her arms and leaning to the wall.

"Yuki-san, Tsuna-san has told me everything. But you're still you and I like you whoever you are. So please come in"

"I'm sorry, Haru. I'd rather stay here" she implied. "Yuki" Tsuna came. "Haru's mother wants to see you"

She was hesitating, but even so, she still entered the room and confronted Haru's mother. Straight as she saw her, she put a pale and sad face. To her surprise, Haru's mother spoke "Thank you"

A split image of her mother appeared on her head. Without saying a word, she headed to the door and left alone.

Even though she hadn't live her life with her mother back then, the spitting image of what was 'Yuki' saw kept appearing inside her head. She kept remorse along the way until she reached a certain place. It was located in the forest and unknown by the society. It was a hidden ground with one remaining circular pillars. It was like a shrine of Greek version, dedicated to the goddess of Athena, just like her name. Flowers surrounded the pillars beautifully and the view was astonishing. It was beautiful scenery.

...

"_What are you looking at, Yuki?" an elegant woman appeared, hugging her child._

"_It's your picture when you came to Japan. Is it beautiful?"_

"_It's very beautiful, just like you"_

"_Can I go to Japan too?"_

"_Eh? Why?"_

"_I want to see for myself how beautiful it is and I also want to protect the people there. I want to make use of my power to do something good" the little 4 year old Yuki said innocently._

"_Okay, okay. 2 years later from now, your father and I will take you there. I already have a surprise for waiting there. You'll love it"_

"_It's a promise?"_

"_Yes, dear. It's a promise"_

...

"You should've been here with me, mother" she sat and leaned to one of the pillars and slowly, she closed her two black eyes. She went asleep and accompanied by the flowers and the deep scarlet sky. Right after she went missing, Giotto searched for her and finally, he found her there. But what he saw certainly surprised him.

The tears that was flowing continuously from her eyes as she slept, it was the second time he saw her crying, but somehow looked like it was his first. He approached her with a worried face and swept her tears, but it was still flowing.

.

_I'm seeing you in the dusk. You shed your tears in your sleep. You look sad, but beautiful._

.

"Mother… I'm truly sorry" she mumbled in her sleep. She kept repeating it over and over. But then, she opened her eyes and flinched when she saw Giotto was staring at her. "What do you want?" she averted her face from him.

.

_The moment you open your deep dark eyes, you're really crying._

.

"Yuki, look at me" he spoke to her as she turned her face away from him.

"No… don't look at me" she said with a trembling voice.

"Look at me now"

"No!" she shouted, but then Giotto turned her to face him and suddenly hugged her. "You've been hurt too much. I understand your feelings, but you don't have to hide it to yourself" he tightened the hug.

"Let me go…"

"I won't. Not until you stop letting out all your feelings"

"I don't need anyone, especially a bond to share with"

"But isn't that what you want? You can't lie to me. Deep down, you're always wanted to be with us, to share the good or bad moments with us. You want to protect us and laugh with us" Yuki widened her eyes as she heard that.

"Everything will be alright. Cry as much as you want. I won't leave you for a second. Whenever you want to cry, just come to me and I will put an end to your misery"

Her eyes became more weary and teary as she heard his calming words. Her black eyes were quivering and became wane as she hugged him back while shedding her tears. Giotto didn't mind if his shirt wet. As long as he could help her get out from her misery, as long as she could stay by her side, he was happy enough that way. Yuki's face was buried in his chest as she cried quietly. She was just letting out her tears, nothing more. She put the most saddening and painful face as she shed her tears while being hugged in his arms.

It went on for couple of hours until she fell asleep from crying. At the time, he held her in his arms while sitting and leaning on to the pillar. Her tears was still flowing even though she already asleep. Giotto gently stroked her cheek, sweeping her tears and kissed her closed eyes.

"Sleep well. I hope your dream is as peaceful as we are now" his stare was fully deep, like the stare of a man who was in love. Giotto was the sky that brought the snow and willing to give up even the sky itself for the snow, for his love had no boundaries like the infinite sky. He always thought beneath that gentle and beautiful side of hers, there was always the pain and sadness she never departed from. And it was based on that fact he wouldn't let her go, because he knew that if he let her go, she'd just endure all of it alone.

"Gio… tto" she mumbled.

"I…" the very words she spoke in her sleep, even though it was a mumble, Giotto was surprised but happy at the same time. "Me too" he smiled.

"Yuki… I promise you I'll protect you and your smile, forever" he kissed her forehead.


	9. The rescue

**IX**

* * *

><p>"So, what'll it be? Do you want to take the position?" two men were talking at an office.<p>

"Hmm… since I'm one of the potential heirs, sure"

"Good, I'm counting on you"

"What about her?"

"We've got something in mind for her. You already planned something right?"

Suddenly, a butler came inside and informed, "The preparations are completed. We now wait for your order"

"It seems you have" the golden haired man smirked eerily.

"Do as you want. Kill as many people as you want" the silver haired man ordered.

"Yes, my lord"

"It's time to turn the tide" the golden one spoke menacingly.

…

"Good morning, Enma"

"Good morning, Tsuna-kun. How's your vacation?"

"Well… there's an unexpected event, but we had fun"

As the young Vongola tenth and Shimon tenth were hanging out together, the teacher, Giotto had arrived. They underwent their school day peacefully and Tsuna also relieved that Reborn wasn't there with him. At the end of the school, Tsuna decided to do his homework before went home and Enma accompanied him.

"Ne, where's Gokudera-kun?" Enma asked while doing his homework. "I don't know. He didn't meet me in my house"

As they done with their homework, they finally could go home, but when Tsuna still reached for his shoes at his locker, Enma saw a person who was leaning on the school gate as if it was waiting for someone. "Tsuna-kun"

"What is it?" Tsuna finished with his shoes. "Isn't that Yuki?"

As he saw the person, he ran towards her. "What are you doing here?" he asked. "I've been with you since you left the house"

"Eh? What for?"

"It's my job as your guardian. I pledge loyalty only to you, the perfect boss for Vongola"

"But I didn't sense your presence at all. Wow, you're really amazing, Yuki" Tsuna stunned. Yuki chuckled and said "It's really nothing, but thank you"

"More importantly, come with me, Tsuna. Enma too if you want" Yuki's face turned solemn and walked away as Tsuna and Enma followed her. "Where are we going?" Enma asked. "You'll know once we get there" she said while walking.

They have walked for few minutes, but Tsuna spoke "Why don't you use teleportation?"

Yuki stopped, causing Tsuna to accidently hit his face against her back. "Ouch! Why are you stopping?" Tsuna rubbed his hurting nose. "I don't have that power to begin with"

"What do you mean? I'm kind of lost"

"It's her. My other self was created by my mother and you probably know that already from Reborn. My mother used to have that power and the power got copied to that 'Yuki'. She had every power that my mother and I have"

"To put it simple, she's stronger than me" she added. Enma heard the conversation and got lost. Seeing that, Tsuna told him everything about her, of course, he asked Yuki for her permission first and she gave it. Enma could comprehend the story well, so he could understand the circumstances. He just never knew the story would be so drastically complicated.

As they walked and walked, Yuki stopped at an empty wide road. She offered her hand and Tsuna blushed of it. He didn't even know why he was suddenly blushing, but even so, he accepted her hand and Enma grabbed Tsuna's hand, creating a chain. To their surprise, they were instantly arrived at a big old Japanese house.

"Y-Yuki. You conceal this house's existence with illusions, right?"

"What's wrong, Tsuna? What's with that face?"

"Who exactly taught you how to create illusions?"

"What's with you? You've been asking too much lately" she sighed as she smiled. "And besides, you won't believe me if I told you"

Just like that, she went inside alone while Tsuna and Enma were being greeted by Giotto who was wearing a black yukata. "What's with that yukata?" Tsuna questioned.

"I told him to wear it" an old man appeared also with a yukata. "Ninth? What are you doing here? And what is this place?"

"Slow down, Tsunayoshi-kun. Come with me" ninth walked and Tsuna followed him. "Let's leave them alone. You come with me, Enma" Yuki said to Enma and Enma gone to Yuki and Giotto.

As they walked along the hall, Enma was surprised as he saw Gokudera was lying helplessly with pale face. As he walked pass him, he asked, "What's wrong with him?"

"He met with Bianchi this morning. I found him lying on the ground this afternoon and since I was going here, I took him here" Giotto answered.

Giotto and Enma were sitting together, staring at the same tree that caught their eyes. It was a full of silence moment. To break the moment, Yuki came and gave them a green tea.

"Why is he here?" Enma referred to ninth. At first, Yuki and Giotto stared each other, indicating that she asked whether she should tell him or not and Giotto nodded, giving her the permission.

"The truth is…"

…

"I understand. So, Vongola HQ is being attacked by an unharmed unknown group. But for a safe house, why here?"

"Not only this place is your birth town, but Yuki's illusions is stronger here"

After he said that, silence filled the air. Tsuna was sipping his tea, but suddenly…

"Ah, now that I remember, she's in an appropriate age for marriage now"

Tsuna burst out the tea from his mouth when he heard that.

"W-W-What are you saying out of the blue like that?" he blushed madly as he wiped his mouth with his sleeve. "Why are you blushing?" ninth puzzled. "I-I mean, she's still young"

"Because she's still young that she's in an appropriate age. She comes from a distinguished family and plus, she's a vampire. Someone at her status normally got married in around her age. I believe it's for her family's future generation to carry on Chronos. But knowing her, she wouldn't want to marry anyone because she'd prefer to do her job as your guardian"

"The thought of being with someone she loved for the rest of her life scare her, I'm guessing" Tsuna added. "Oh, so you know her well now" ninth surprised in delight. "I'm talking about Giotto-san too. And also… she probably doesn't want her future son to bear the Chronos blood"

Suddenly, Yuki came by with Giotto who already changed his clothing and said "Ninth, it's time. I'll be going now". Ninth nodded and said "Be careful"

As ninth said so, they was about to leave the house, but Tsuna stopped her by asking "Where are you going?"

"We're going to help the survivors in Italy and annihilate the attackers" she replied. "But…"

"Giotto and I are the only ones who can touch them. This is what we have to do, this is our job as a Mafioso"

"But still, I…"

"Don't worry. I'll protect her anytime" Giotto reassured. "Then, please be careful" Tsuna's eyes shown worries. Seeing that, Yuki reached to her pocket and gave him her pocket watch. "This is the proof that I will come back to you, to the one and only Sawada Tsunayoshi. And I won't kill anyone, for I'm no longer that kind of girl" she placed the watch on his hand and closed his hand as she held his hands. Tsuna accepted the watch and finally let them go.

"Tenth, I'm sorry I couldn't go with you to school" Gokudera leaned to the pillar as he held his stomach. "It's alright, Gokudera-kun. I've heard it all"

"More importantly, ninth, have you already known about her?" Tsuna stared at him and ninth nodded.

...

"_Do you really want him to be here?" ninth and Yuki settled themselves at the safe house on the night. "Is that bad?" he asked._

"_No… ninth, did Reborn tell you? About me"_

"_No"_

"_I see"_

"_Giotto did"_

"_Giotto?"_

"_You may not be 'Yuki', but Giotto still cares about you. Don't take it too stubbornly, Athena. He's always open his heart for you and only you"_

"_No, I'm not 'Athena' anymore. 'Athena' is no longer exist. I now live my life as 'Yuki'"_

"_Then do you live for her sake only?"_

"_That's what I settled upon at first, but… lately, I've beginning to realize I just want to live like the way I want. I'm no longer the girl who loves to kill. Now, I just kill what I have to kill. I can't be the perfect 'Yuki' you all wanted, but I'll try my best to be one"_

"_Yuki… you…"_

"_Though I know no one can replace one's existence. The more the person is precious to us, the more impossible it is to replace them. But you can trust their lives on me, ninth. Because… I'm not planning to hurt them, not anymore. I'll protect them… with my life"_

…

As the dependable reinforcement arrived, the two immediately saw the sight of Varia troops were laying on ground, in addition to Xanxus, Squalo, and the rest. Giotto approached one of the troops while Yuki approached Xanxus. "This one's dead. What about him?" he asked.

"He's alive, but his pulse is weak. Unfortunately, we can't send anyone as of this moment. We need to settle this quickly" she kneeled as she checked his pulse.

"What kind of people could do this much damage without being harmed?" Giotto looked around.

"I don't know, but I can think of only one. I just hope I'm wrong"

"Then, I'm going to look around to make sure if the enemy still around" as Giotto was going to look around, Yuki said "Don't bother"

"They're here. They're just waiting for the chance to strike us. They won't attack us yet. Let's go inside. There may be some casualties there" she resumed.

Yuki and Giotto went inside the Vongola HQ. At first they found no person laying on ground, but the place was too quiet. Because of that, they had to be alert all the time. But when they went to the upper floor, blood started to scatter all over the place. As Giotto was staring at the wall, Yuki headed to ninth's office. But what was inside that room, widened her eyes in shock and her eyes were quivering.

"Hm? What's in there?" Giotto peeked inside and put a horrified face as he saw the corpses, it was as if they were being sucked to death.

Yuki who was examining as she kneeled in front of the corpse voiced, "They're…"

"What's wrong… Yuki?"

"I've had enough about them" her voice were trembling in anger and Giotto felt the anger she let out, the stabbing aura she emitted.

Her eyes were furrowed of the uncontrollable rage. Slowly, a blue mist appeared surrounding her and a figure appeared, like a ghost. Not just one figure, but 9 figures were seen behind her and they all wore a cloak. Giotto saw the eyes on her, it was full of rage yet she hid it with a calm face and a furrowed eyes. Along with the figures behind her, she walked passed Giotto.

"Yuki. What's that… behind you?"

"I summoned them. They're my ancestor, all former head of Chronos" she replied with the same eyes she stared at him, which made Giotto stunned yet felt that it was a fearsome power she had.

"Let's go, Giotto" she turned back to front.

"Where?"

"We're going to hunt some vampires"

As they got out, Yuki told Giotto to take care of the southern gate while she on the northern part. However, Giotto reluctantly went to his place. He knew something bad would happen in her current state, but he also knew it was no use talking to her. As Giotto left the northern part, a group of vampires jumped from the trees and assaulted her, without knowing who they were up against.

"Go"

With one word only, her summons began to move and started to attack them.

"Feed on their pitiful souls and kill as much as you like" she, too, began to draw her sword.

"No vampires will survive"

…

"Eh? The enemies are vampires?" Tsuna looked dumbfounded.

"That's correct. That's why I sent Yuki and Giotto there" ninth responded.

"Why Giotto-san? He's human"

"He's been gifted with a special talent. A talent that allows him to hurt or kill vampires"

"That means he has a potential of becoming a hunter" Reborn added.

"But wouldn't it be bad if she knew her enemies are like her?"

"That's also why I didn't tell them about it. I don't like to send her there, hurting her own people, but she persisted on it without knowing the truth. I was mesmerized by her eyes, she didn't want to leave them while my men are hanging their lives. I couldn't say no. I'm at fault, Tsunayoshi-kun"

"It's okay, it's not really anyone's fault. But, what'll happen if she finds out?"

"…"

"Ninth?"

…

On the southern side of the castle, enemies were waiting for him. However, he began to realize his enemies when one of them attacked him. Giotto was surprised, but since Yuki told him before, he didn't surprise that much, and also, he assumed only vampire could cause that much of damage. Giotto charged and assaulted his enemies. Most of them were frozen, but none was killed. Giotto wasn't that kind of man. It was a long and hard struggle and Giotto managed to hold on until the enemies retreated.

Then, he decided to check on Yuki. He had a bad feeling about her since the moment he saw her blazing eyes. Unfortunately, his feeling went right. Much to his surprise, Yuki was grabbing the enemy's face with her summoned ancestors behind her. And also, a pile of dead vampires were surrounding her.

"Oi, stop what you're doing!" he ran towards her, trying to stop her, but her ancestors walled her from him.

"_She's the true bearer of Chronos, the vicious 11__th__"_ the first Chronos head spoke.

"_What you see is what she is. You can't avert your eyes from the truth. This is what it means to be a Chronos" _he continued.

Yuki lifted the man and said with murderous eyes "Who sent you?"

The man couldn't say anything, even if he wanted to. He was badly injured, he couldn't speak. Thus, she cracked his skull as she gripped it tightly. "I have no use of you if you can't talk"

"Snap out of it, Yuki!" Giotto shouted.

Yuki turned her face to him and said "What do you know?"

"I know you're not that kind of girl anymore. You promised that you'd stop it"

"All I've been doing is driving out the information out of them. I just killed what's useless to me"

"You… You said that as if their lives are meaningless"

"Vampires who have lost in their world and become a doll to their own selves are meaningless. Like this guy" she tightened the grip.

"AAH! Please… Stop…"

"Oh, so you can talk"

"Please…"

"Such feast for the ear to hear such words. Your life is worthless than I thought. I shall end it for you slowly and painfully, like what you did to these humans" she smirked and stabbed him. Her smirk on her lips gone as she stabbed him ferociously.

"Remember what you said to ninth! You made that resolve yourself!" he shouted. But Yuki didn't care. She kept doing it and the man screamed continuously. His eyes were quivering at the very moment he saw her doing that and her eyes that full of rage. His hands that he clenched were also trembling.

"You're not 'Athena' anymore!"

Yuki suddenly twitched as she heard that and snapped of it. She let go of the man and widened her eyes in horror as she saw her tainted hands. She promised herself she'd never kill anyone, if it wasn't necessary.

She instantly dropped herself and her summons disappeared along with her rage. Giotto approached her and consoled her, but his words didn't reach her.

"I… killed them, my own race"

"Yuki, stop blaming yourself for everything you've done"

"No, it's all me. I should've known, the more I throw away my existence as 'Athena', the more it come back to me. I'll always be 'Athena' no matter what. I can't escape from what I truly am"

"You can" he stated and she looked at him as he said that in surprise.

"You have strong resolve to convert your strength to protect and you already did. You just have to make a firm pillar on that resolve and all will be fine" he placed his hand on her head and comforted her. Her eyes went on quavering and glazed a she put her sad face.

"I'm sorry"


	10. The mysterious new guy

**X**

* * *

><p>It had been few days since that day and Yuki never left her room since then. She always settled herself on bed as she was consumed by her thought. She refused to even look at Giotto or anyone. As the afternoon sky continued passing, Giotto was on the phone and the caller specifically spoke her name. After hearing what the caller said, he knew he had to go to her.<p>

"Yuki" he called, but Yuki still lying on bed while facing him away. "You should stop acting like this. All you've been doing all day is just guarding Tsuna and lock yourself in your room" he sat near her.

"I know" she voiced, then finally faced him. "I don't want to be the sorrowful girl. That sort of problem didn't break me"

"I was just thinking about my self-control… I guess" she added. "Then, can you guide a rookie?"

"What rookie?"

"After that incident, Vongola has new members and one of them is sent here. Ninth want you to cool your head by guiding this person, if you don't mind"

Yuki lifted her body and said "If ninth said so, I can't say no"

Thus, Giotto told her about the member and was said to meet her at Namimori shopping district. The information turned out right as she saw a man with a suit.

"Are you from Vongola?" she called out. "I'm Ricosto and you must be Chronos Yuki. I've heard all about you and I really admire your strength. You're one of the reasons why I joined Vongola" they shook their hand.

"You seem well-mannered. Very well, then let's introduce you to Decimo. Stay close and don't get separated away from me. Because if you do, I won't trouble myself to find you"

"I won't trouble you, Yuki-senpai"

Namimori shopping district was truly crowded at the time and Rico really happened to be lost from her sight, but as she said before, she didn't wait for him. When she knocked the door, he wasn't there.

"Yuki? What are you doing here? Who's that man behind you?" Tsuna greeted. "He's Ricosto" she answered calmly.

…

"So that's what it is" Tsuna sighed. "He's really worried about you. The enemies I fought weren't the half of it. They could come after you too"

Tsuna and she sat in the living room while watching Rico played with the kids. "He's good with kids though" he commented. "But, Yuki… are you okay with it? I thought…"

"I'm always fine, Tsuna. I'm sorry for making you worried" she smiled reassuringly.

"She is a he?" the blonde man finally made his appearance.

"I thought you know. So what if he's a guy?" Yuki said as she drank her juice.

"I… no, it's nothing" he was going to leave disappointingly, but suddenly, he approached her and said "No, there's something! You will spend your time more with him instead of me and I can't accept it!" he shouted, which made her startled. However, Yuki didn't get the message. She was looking all dumbfound.

"Seriously, sometimes I don't understand you at all" she sighed, speaking all cynically. Then she stood up and said that she was going to search an apartment for him and that made Giotto more disappointed.

"You can come with us" that words from her mouth brought the joy to him. And with that, they set out a goodbye and left for the search.

…

"Futa! Lambo!"

"What's wrong, mom?" Tsuna asked.

"Have you seen them, Tsu-kun? It's already this late. I'm worried" his mom was looking all agitated and because of it, Tsuna volunteered himself to go. "Want me to come with you, Tsuna?" Reborn sneered, but he said he'd be fine.

With that settled, Tsuna searched for them around 9 pm alone. As he searched them, the fatigue from the earlier training began to haunt him and he knew he had to find them quickly. He couldn't find them anywhere, but suddenly, he remembered one place he forgot. He went to the park and saw the kids were hanging out on the swing.

"Ah, Tsuna-nii. What are you doing here?" Futa asked. "You're not supposed to be here at night. What are you doing here?"

"Umm…"

"It wasn't Lambo-san's fault! It was Futa!" Lambo pointed at Futa. "That's why I said we'll find the replacement" he replied.

"Why? What happened?"

"Tsuna-nii, I'm sorry"

"That's why I'm asking you, what happened, Futa?"

"We… promised Tsuna-nii that we'll buy you and everyone ice cream if you'd done with your training and luckily, there's an ice cream sale at Namimori shopping district, but…"

"Futa accidentally dropped it to the lake and I was looking forward to it!" lambo shouted again. "Since then, we started to go back but it ran out already"

"It's just that? I don't really mind not eating it. I can eat it later. You don't have to trouble yourself". "But we promised" Futa felt guilty for it. He really wanted him to taste the famous ice cream that only came once in a year.

But Tsuna didn't mind and instead, he said "You can say sorry to the others at home. I already forgive you"

"Sawada Tsunayoshi"

"Who… are you?" Tsuna suddenly felt the chills coming from that particular man. He immediately turned into hyper mode and seeing this, the man said with smirking "You've alerted yourself without knowing who I am. You really are the famous Vongola decimo" the man drew a crossbow and pointed it at Tsuna's direction.

"Go home now" Tsuna said to Fsuta and Lambo. And so, Lambo and Futa ran away, but the man pointed his weapon to their direction. Suddenly, Tsuna dashed towards him and blocked his view.

"Be calm. I won't attack an unrelated citizen"

The man ran away from Tsuna and jumped to one roof to another. Tsuna followed the person while they began their fight. The man shot an arrow and Tsuna dodged it, but that was just a trick. The arrow stopped at Tsuna's back and electrified him with its tip. Tsuna used the proportion of his gloves to dash towards the person by his flame.

Weirdly, the man stopped and let Tsuna threw few punches and a Big Bang Axle as the finishing. The man was covered by the smoke so he couldn't see his figure, but as the smoke gone away, much to his surprise, it didn't even give him a scratch. He directed his attack to Tsuna and he was completely broken by the attack.

He couldn't resist, he couldn't bring more attack, and it was almost like the end of him. Tsuna immediately knew that his enemy was a vampire. He knew he didn't stand a chance and the enemy was going to kill him. But suddenly, something from behind shot the man and he turned to dust.

"Are you hurt, Decimo?"

"Ricosto? No, I'm fine. Is this what I think this is?" he stood up. "I'm afraid so. The enemy has reached here. We're unsure of the quantity, but we can assume that you're not safe here"

"We?"

"Yuki-senpai is investigating this matter at the moment. She specifically said I'll stay at your house until she comes back. And she won't accept no as an answer"

Tsuna's hyper mode worn out, then he said "Then, I'll leave it to you"

…

The next sunny morning, everyone was eating their breakfast at Tsuna's place. However, Rico was the one who cooked for them. Nana was very delighted of his cooking, it was delicious.

"Not only you're very good-looking, you're also very good at cooking. We have two good-looking guys who are taking care of the chores and I'm very grateful! I wish Tsuna will grow up to be like all of you" Nana commented joyously as she ate her food.

"Thank you very much, but I'm not that good" Ricosto implied.

"By the way, Giotto-senpai, is Yuki-senpai home?" the brown-haired man asked. "Not yet"

"Has she contacted you?"

"No, why?"

"Just making sure" he continued his cooking while Giotto washed the dishes. After the breakfast, Giotto and Rico helped the chores by hanging the laundries while Nana was resting at the living room peacefully.

"Tsuna!" Lambo yelled.

"Let's go to amusement park tomorrow!"

"Alright, alright. Do you want to come with us, Giotto-san, Ricosto-kun?" he offered. "I'd like to go with you any time" Giotto said.

"I'm afraid I can't accept that opportunistic offer. I still have a lot of work to be done" Rico answered. Though they felt bad about it, Rico reassured that he'd be okay.

Suddenly, they caught Nana was going to go for shopping groceries, but Giotto and Rico said that they'd do it instead. Tsuna also took part along with Lambo and I-Pin. Within only less than an hour they managed to buy everything they need while usually took more than that, but with a help of Giotto and Rico, they did it.

"How come both of you are so good at this?" Tsuna asked as they were in a café.

"I always accompany Yuki to buy groceries" Giotto's answer.

"I just use my instinct" Rico's answer.

"What was that?" Tsuna asked Rico. "I-I mean, I used to do this with my mother"

"If you don't mind, can you show me around this area?" Rico added and they gladly accepted it.

They showed the most places they visit and Rico seemed to enjoy himself. Then, he wanted to be taken to Nami middle.

"So this is what your school's like" he stared in front of it, since they couldn't go inside. "It is" Tsuna also stared at it and Rico looked into his eyes.

"This place must be important to you, I can tell from your eyes" he said. "Yeah, because… something that we're protecting is inside this school along with this town"

"It must be nice to have something important to protect" he mumbled. "Eh? What's wrong?" Tsuna asked.

"Never mind, I'm just talking to myself. It's already this late, I think we should head back" Rico said and walked, but as he walked, he dropped a small pouch. Tsuna picked it up and said "You drop this, but what's this? Is there something round inside?"

Seeing Tsuna was holding it, he immediately snatched it away and said "I'm sorry, Decimo. This thing is fragile and it's my treasure" after he said that, he walked ahead.

"Is it really round, Tsuna?" Giotto asked.

"Yeah, I can really feel it. Why you ask?"

"I just felt a faint sense of… no, it's probably just my imagination" Giotto replied as he was doing his thinking.

…

"Thank you everyone!" Nana cheerfully said.

"It's my pleasure to be of a service" Rico said.

"Now, don't be like that. Why don't you and Gio-kun stay for dinner? And I'll cook this time" Nana said as she was going to head to the kitchen.

"Eh? But you're supposed to be resting all day, we'll—"

"Don't be so stiff, Rico-kun. It's naturally my job as a housewife and a mother"

With that said, they waited for the time and as she done with the food, she called everyone to eat. Rico kept praising her food every time he took a bite.

"I believe this is more exquisite than a five star chef. You should cook at Vongola—", suddenly, Tsuna covered his mouth.

"Vongola?"

"H-He means clam. You should cook something with clam sometimes" Tsuna said as he was sweating agitatedly.

"That might be a good idea!" his mother cheered and began to cook more. "Please don't reveal anything about mafia, Ricosto-kun!" he whispered. "So your mother didn't know about it? Isn't your honorable father works at CEDEF?"

"Even so, my mother is just a normal citizen. And there's nothing honorable about that father"

"I apologize, Decimo. I'll be more careful next time"

"Anyway, have you heard from Yuki?" Reborn asked.

"No, I haven't" Rico replied.

"We can't contact her as of this moment and she stuck with the same circumstances" Giotto replied as he ate.

"She'll be fine. She'll hit you if you still worried about her" Reborn replied.

Hearing that, Giotto stared at his food as his eyes told his uneasy and worried feelings. But then, he put aside that feelings and tried to trust her, though he always had. After the dinner, Giotto spent some of his times to play with Lambo and I-Pin along with Rico. Then, Giotto bid a farewell and left.

...

"Hurry up, slowpokes! I'm waiting!"

"Lambo, wait!" I-Pin ran towards Lambo.

Luckily, the next day was a sunny yet not too hot day. Tsuna, Reborn, Giotto, Lambo and I-Pin were already arrived at the place, along with Gokudera and Enma. Lambo was just a kid, so he really wanted to try all attractions, but still, being hurry was not always the answer.

"Ne, ne. Why Rico is not here?" Lambo scraped his nostril like a snotty kid. "He's busy with his work, unlike you who can only cry, eat, and play" Reborn cynically said.

"Shut up, Reborn! You don't know what Lambo-san can do!" he huffed along the stroll.

…

Meanwhile, Rico was at Tsuna's place as he gazed at his so-called 'treasure'.

"Where's everyone?" a girl suddenly came by.

"Yuki-senpai, welcome back. How was it?" he hid the pouch.

"I thought you're supposed to guard Tsuna while I'm gone" she crossed her arms.

"I just let them have some fun without an outsider like me"

Upon hearing this, she sighed and said "I don't think you are anymore. About that matter… I have new information for them, an important one they can't miss" she turned serious.

"If that's the case, why don't I escort you to them?" Rico offered.

"Will you?"

"Anything for the Vongola and my senior" he smiled.

As they done their talk, Rico escorted her to the way. However, he took her to the forest and that confused her. "Why are they here? Are they partaking Reborn's training?" she looked around as they walked.

"You'll see"

They kept walking and walking endlessly until they reached a certain ground. It was a wide ground and spacious.

"It's the first time I see this place"

"I made this place right after I got here" he replied.

"Are they really here, Ricosto?"

"…"

"Ricosto?"


	11. The hidden truth

**XI**

* * *

><p>"<em>It's the first time I see this place"<em>

"_I made this place right after I got here" he replied._

"_Are they really here, Ricosto?"_

"…"

"_Ricosto?"_

…

"Where are they?" she asked once again.

"They're at the amusement park, having fun, Athena"

Upon being called her real name, Yuki asked "How did you know?" as she was sweating, already feeling the danger but didn't draw her weapon yet. "Will this make you remember?"

Rico gradually changed his form and the first thing that showed up was his silver hair and slowly to toe. Rico turned his body to face Yuki and said "Remember now?"

She flinched as she saw that face, the face that once tormented her other self. She immediately drew her sword with narrow eyes. "Glad you remember, although that wasn't you back then" he smirked and showed his small pouch.

"This is the only souvenir I get from you, my only treasure" he kissed the pouch. She directly knew what was inside that pouch and she gave out a killing aura.

"What's your name, vampire?"

"I don't have to fake my name. Because I'm not in anyone's life except hers"

"Hers?"

He put back his pouch and drew a long katana, "Bring it"

With that, their battle had begun. It wasn't a typical of an easy fight. Rico was stronger than he looks. Within just few minutes, they already have scratches on their bodies. As their swords clashed each other, she asked "I thought 'Yuki' had finished with you as she did with Cole and his men"

"I managed to survive, you could say" he used his free hand to push her with his hand force by hitting her stomach, but she was quick enough to revert her sword as a protection and the impact caused her to be pushed backwards, although that saved her.

"Light your ring"

"What?"

"I want to see that power of yours"

She stared at the ring and said "I won't use it"

"You probably should" Rico swung his swords towards her, causing her to do a sudden defense mode by guarding it with her sword. She was completely off guard as Rico suddenly appeared on her back and stabbed her shoulder until it pierced through her. She immediately back away and held her shoulder.

"Why are you holding back?" he walked towards her and suddenly disappeared. He appeared in front of her and stabbed her stomach like what he did to her shoulder, causing her to cough blood. "I think I get it now" he whispered to her ears.

"You can't light the ring, can you? You haven't discovered your true resolve. If this is the case, I guess I have to hurry up and go to them" he pulled his weapon and was going to leave, but Yuki stopped him by saying "We're not done here". She stood up slowly.

"I'll… protect them"

"Pfft! Hahaha…." He burst laughing. "Seriously, what a joke. I think this is why you can't light your ring. You're too focus on protecting them while you doesn't remember your true nature"

"You're different than your other personality, Athena, no, Yuki. It's probably better to call you that since that's what you want, right? See? I'm not that evil. Anyway, let me tell you this as a bonus. You won't be able to light that ring forever if you forget about who you are"

"You know nothing about me or us" she glared. "Hmm… is that so? But what can you do at your current state? You can't even lift your own injured arm"

"As I said, you know nothing about me" she emitted a jet black aura as a sign of what she was going to do.

…

"I told you, you know nothing of me"

Yuki was panting as she held on to her stomach and stared at Rico who was lying on ground. All she could think of was why she was holding back. She approached him and held his forehead, beginning to read his mind.

.

"_I think I'll name you Rico. You're my son now and I'll take care of you"_

"M-Mother…?"

_._

"_Look, we can't take this child to our house! He'll contaminate our name!"_

"_But, dear. I…"_

"_Don't misunderstand. You will raise child but everyone mustn't know about this, especially Cole and Yuki"_

_._

She immediately snapped as she felt a needle on her hand. She backed away, but at the same time, she felt a hard painful thump inside her.

"How dare you look into my memories" he stood up. "My mother… adopted you?"

"Why are you looking so surprised? You knew her, so you must know what kind of person she is. She loved to pick up stray animals and nurtured them, such as myself. She's everything to me"

Rico's glare turned like an avenger glare and from that eyes she could tell that he really wanted to kill her from long ago. "I used to adore you, watching you silently. But you take her away from me"

"You took Iieve away from me!" he blew out and summoned another long katana and he held two. Yuki was going to ready herself, but her injuries and the poison paralyzed her.

…

Meanwhile, at the amusement park…

"Lambo sure is noisy" Tsuna commented at the sleeping kid who was sleeping on a bench.

"He's just child" Giotto added.

"I sure don't want to have a brother like him" Gokudera retorted. "Or a child" Enma added.

"A child, huh?" Giotto muttered. "But it's lively and wonderful to have a child like him, all energetic and has the motivation to help his parents. I want to have a child like him someday" he smilingly said.

"Wait, are you serious, Giotto-san?"

"Why would I be lying? I was reborn to this world, but that doesn't mean I can't raise a family"

"I can guess what you're thinking, Giotto" Reborn said with smirk. "Ahaha… busted, aren't I?" he scratched his head.

"Found you"

"Eh?" everyone looked back at the same time and spotted a tainted man with two long katana. "You're… Ricosto, aren't you?" Giotto questioned.

"As expected from someone who has super intuition. You got me"

"Wait, Ricosto-kun? You're a… vampire? What's going on here?" Tsuna's face paled.

"I'm here to end the chain once and for all, the chain that was firstly made by Vongola secondo"

"Secondo? Do you know anything about this, Giotto?" Reborn asked. "No, I don't know anything about this"

"I-Pin, take Lambo away from here" Giotto ordered, not wanting to involve kids and so, I-Pin went home while carrying Lambo.

They have readied themselves and were going to make a move, but suddenly, one by one, few people were killed brutally. That killing frightened the people and they started to run away from the park.

"What did you just do?" Tsuna widened his eyes. "Ask my men" as she said that, numbers of vampires appeared and was going to chase the citizen, but the only one who could hurt a vampire there was only Giotto. They couldn't do anything about it.

"Ah, I know that face. You're really caught between me and them, huh. But there's nothing you can do, actually. All of you can't harm us, except for Giotto"

"Your blood will be mixed up with her blood" he grinned. "Her?" Giotto questioned.

"I've killed your Yuki, Giotto" he said proudly.

Hearing this, Giotto's eyes went on rampage and started to attack him. Both were equally strong and Rico was weakened due to his fight with Yuki. Giotto managed to give him a fatal and several bruises, but Rico didn't back down yet. As Rico made Giotto kneeled on ground, that's when he was about to attack Tsuna, but suddenly, something on his feet stopped him. It was Giotto's Zero point breakthrough.

"You're still able to perform that technique with your injuries. I'm impressed" he chipped. "Likewise. You're amazing as well, to be able to move that much from those wounds"

"I admit, you really are strong, but that won't be enough" he relentlessly slashed the ice and succeeded to escape from it. But Giotto punched him with full speed as he freed from his ice and that surprised Rico a lot.

Rico moved away from Giotto and said "You're so persistent, but no matter. Soon, the entire citizen will become a prey for us"

Unexpectedly, one of his men came by. "Sir, we have a situation"

"What is it? Are you having trouble gathering them?" he joked.

"No, it's… all of the troops have been annihilated"

"WHAT? By who?" he snapped, but then, the man collapsed and didn't answer his question. Suddenly, someone from above fell to him and swung its sword as Rico blocked it with his one sword.

"Tch! You're still alive" Rico tried to push her back, but Yuki also pushed him back and then, Yuki kicked him and after she did, she jumped and flipped backwards.

"Don't you dare touch them with your dirty hands" she glared with a pale face. But again, the poison attacked her again as if she was stabbed from inside. She couldn't do much about it and knowing that, Rico was going to assault her, but Giotto blocked his way by hugging her and let him took the attack, making an 'X' lines on his back.

"Step aside" Rico gazed at the person who turned his back on him as he hugged Yuki and didn't let go. "Go away. It's my fault he's like this. I don't want you to get hurt" she said.

"So do I" Giotto replied.

"I won't let her go, even if it kills me" he added.

"Then, this'll make my job easier"

Rico kicked Giotto, which made him fell on top of her. Yuki couldn't move because her own reason, but Giotto, despite the fact he could still move, he wouldn't do it.

"Trying to be her knight, aren't you, Giotto? Then, you don't mind if I kill you first" Rico slashed his back several times, which made Giotto screamed in pain, but Giotto was still on top of her and held her.

"Let me go! Don't do this!" she shouted, then felt the poison again.

"I won't… let you go… until I die"

"A forbidden love between Vongola and Chronos, how wonderful… and a pain to my eyes" a sky flame suddenly appeared on his weapon. "A sky flame? How did he…" Tsuna shocked.

Sky flame emerged with his katana, just like what Yamamoto did. He was preparing for a fatal blow, but Tsuna, Enma, and Gokudera charged towards him, although they couldn't harm him.

"Tch, pests. I'll deal with you later" he swung his sword to them, blowing them away with just a minor bruise.

"Stay… away… Giotto" she tried to push him, but the poison was violently attacked her body. Giotto stared at Yuki with a pale and painful smile. "I'll… protect you"

"Bye-bye" Rico spoke with maniac face and fully swung it. The attack was fused with his flame and because of that, Giotto got slashed and collapsed.

His agonizing scream made Yuki's eyes were shaking and widening as she saw he fell in front of her eyes, moreover, on top of her. She could feel the painful thump on her heart and not because of the poison as it thumped and thumped continuously, as if there was something that waited to come out.

Rico swung the sword as the end, but suddenly, Yuki gripped it tightly and scattered it to dust as her ring began to light. She moved away Giotto gently and stood up as her aura began to feel different.

"How… can you still move?" Rico sweated.

"You scooped this body's eye, you tricked Tsuna and everyone, and you tried to hurt the innocent" slowly, her hair and eyes began to change color and gloves started to appear on her hands. Black universe flames showed on her forehead with an 'X' shape. Her weapon changed to a gun as she held two and the guns was coated by the flame.

"White hair and red eyes. So this is what happens if you light your ring" Rico grinned for some reason.

They started their fight once again, but Rico immediately got disadvantaged. Yuki's relentless attack was fast and strong but somehow fueled by anger.

Rico lost to her instantly. Yuki approached him and grabbed his collar. She touched his eye and said "Your biggest mistake is when your sword touched him and I now pass the judgment on you"

…

The day was almost ended as the orange dyed the sky as well as Giotto who opened his eyes.

Although his back was injured badly, he could still stand up. But what was waiting for him to see were the girl he loved and Rico. An eyeball, several fingers and ears were near her as Giotto gazed with cold feet. Tsuna and the rest could stop her, but they were surrounded by barrier that strained them and they could just stare with regret of couldn't stand the sight they saw.

Giotto ran towards her and locked her both arms. "Stop it!" he yelled. Yuki's eyes widened of hearing the voice and her form changed to normal. Yuki hugged him and said with a smile "I'm glad… you're okay"

But after she said that, she collapsed and at the same time, the barrier had gone.

"Are you okay, Giotto-san?" Tsuna and everyone ran to them. Giotto carried her princess-style and said "I'm fine, but I don't know about her"

All of the sudden, they heard a siren.

"Let us handle her" the paramedic spoke. "You come with us too" he added.

"We'll visit you" Tsuna said and he nodded.

And so, Giotto and Yuki were taken to the nearby hospital. One of the paramedic wanted to look at his injuries, but persisted, saying that he'd be fine. Along the way, he didn't avert his face away from Yuki.

…

"Have you not heard any news from Ricosto?" the golden-haired man spoke.

"No, I'm afraid we're—"

"Cross-sama!" one of his men showed up. "This mansion is being attacked! Please evacuate through—" a shot in his heart killed him before he could continue. The person appeared while carrying a person and shot his last man who was going to draw his gun.

"Found you" the girl said in delight and dropped the corpse.

"Y-Yuki-sama? What on earth did you do to Ricosto?"

Yuki, along with her white hair and red eyes emitted her usual black aura and raised her glove. "Sending him to end my reign as Chronos and to kill Vongola. Your sins are too much to be unforgivable" black flame coated her gloves as she said with smirking face.

"Y-You'll be considered as a traitor if you do this!" the man spoke tremblingly.

"What's wrong, Cross-san? Having cold feet?" she stared sinisterly with the same smirk.

"The elders will end you as Chronos' head!"

"So be it"

Then, he drew his gun and shot at her, but the bullet penetrated her.

"Are you an idiot? Of course my body is not here" she walked to him as her flame got bigger.

"N-No, stay away!"

"See you in afterlife"

…

The surgery was finished and Giotto accompanied her as she slept peacefully with her oxygen mask on, again. Thankfully, it was a peaceful night and the stars radiated brightly for anyone to see. The stars were like her for him, sometimes it hid at day and appeared at night, hiding its form at night and rarely shown its true nature. And also, the stars indicated whether she was fine or not and when he saw the shine of the stars, he knew that she was fine, so he wouldn't use his energy to worry about her.

Then, Tsuna, Gokudera, Reborn, and Enma came by asking for their condition. Of course, Giotto said that they'd be fine and he didn't have to lie through it.

"You didn't tell anyone about this?" Giotto asked.

"No, especially the girls. This is not the first time she's hospitalized, so I don't want to make them worry again. It's just between us"

"She looks… I'd prefer her like this. I mean, she looks so peaceful than before" Enma chirped. "You mean when she fought Ricosto with her flame?" Giotto asked and he nodded.

"Tsunayoshi-kun, everyone" Ninth with his guardian came by. "There's something you have to know" he continued.

"I'm sorry I hide this from everyone"

"Why? What is it, ninth?" Gokudera asked.

"Yuki had been informing me in discovering the truth. She was going to give you this important message, but knowing her condition, she couldn't, so I'm going to pass it down to you. Please listen to what about you're going to hear, especially you, Giotto-kun". The curiosity was on their eyes with a little bit of nervousness.

.

_Long ago, there were many vampires lived in Italy and merged with humans to live peace with them. Used their powers only to kill bad people. But Ricardo, the second boss, he wanted to rule over the strongest beings in universe by doing a genocide against vampires._

.

"Why? But aren't there still vampires here?" Reborn asked.

"It's not polite to cut in, Reborn" Giotto lectured.

"I just want to find out"

.

_He wasn't able to hurt the aristocrat vampires, only the commoner vampires he could kill, since they weren't pureblood. His action led the remaining vampires, including the survive ones to unite with the pureblood to have a grudge against Vongola and they stopped living in peace and focused their lives on one objective._

.

"Let me guess, Yuki's family is involve in this scheme" Reborn assumed.

Ninth nodded and said "According to my informant, Yuki's grandfather is one of the elders, they're on the top and the people who planned on eradicating Vongola. Sadly to say he's the one who involved her to this plan"

"Her own grandfather?" Giotto said in disbelief.

"…What else?" Giotto voiced again.

"I… just heard that some of the aristocrats, including Chronos's men were planning to come to Japan, to Namimori and that's not good news at all"

"What are you saying?" Tsuna asked.

"They're accepting a declaration of war and will kill all Vongola tenth generation, including Yuki"

"They're planning on killing Yuki? Why? Isn't she's one of them? I know they're not humans, but are they really that heartless? And besides, no one declared a war and I thought no one dares to declare a war against vampires!" Tsuna gripped ninth's shoulder and shaken him.

"Calm down, Tsuna. Panicking will get you nowhere" Reborn voiced.

"Actually, there is one person who dare, Tsunayoshi-kun" ninth turned his eyes on the sleeping girl, which made their face more disbelief-like.

"Yuki just burnt down the entire mansion of one of the elders along with him and Ricosto's body. That led the elders to get furious and considered her as a traitor, as well as her grandfather who agreed to assassinate her"

Tsuna clenched his fists tightly and tremblingly. "…How could her own grandfather do that?" his eyes were quivering in a bit of almost anger.

"Then it settles. Go home and get some sleep. You have a training tomorrow morning, Tsuna" Reborn said. "Wait, Reborn-san. I thought humans can't harm them" Gokudera disputed.

"What are you planning, Reborn?" ninth questioned. "You'll know" Reborn mysteriously smirked and so, they left the room to be prepared for their own training method. "I'll leave Yuki to you, Giotto-kun" ninth also left.

After the room got silence once again, Giotto held her hand with soft and passionate eyes interlocked to her eyes. He always thought that she never had any peace in her life, always being haunted by her identity and Chronos.

"…I wish you would just stay this peaceful, Yuki"


	12. Preparation

**XII**

* * *

><p>In every free time they had, the Vongola and Shimon, just like Reborn told them, they undertook their training. Likewise, Tsuna was always accompanied by Reborn through their rough training. Although they had been training for two days, it felt like a week or more. Tsuna's training for was finished for today and he straightly went to his bed.<p>

"Haaah… I'm so exhausted" Tsuna stretched his hands. "Ah, now that I remember, you've trained 5 hours straight per day"

"You mean you just realize it now? What kind of Spartan tutor are you?" Tsuna shouted. "The kind who will give you a break for tomorrow"

"Eh? Really?"

"Just for an hour, though" Reborn adjusted his night cap. "EEHH? Then why do you give me a break at the first place?"

"You need to inspect your guardians' training, even Chrome partake her training with Mukuro as her tutor" he rested his head with crossing arms behind his head.

"Then, is Lambo—"

"Don't worry, I'm not involving that stupid cow to this war. Yuki wouldn't want that. Truthfully, she's as soft as you if concerning kids. Until you're finished with your training, you're not allowed to visit her" he interrupted and fell asleep immediately.

…

The next morning day, Reborn hammered Tsuna's head since he wouldn't wake up. Tsuna protested he woke him up at an early morning, but Reborn told they should go see the others in the morning. In spite of Tsuna questioned whether they would be training in an early morning or not, Reborn persistently said he'd be right.

Tsuna couldn't beat him whenever they had an argument. So he just surrendered to him and first, they went to his best friend's training. Enma's training seemed fine and since he really focused on his training, Tsuna decided to leave him be and uttered him good luck.

He also went to Yamamoto's training and to his surprise, Squalo was at the dojo with him, so he took a peek inside. Suddenly, the door opened and Tsuna shrieked as he saw a long white hair man glaring at him and then he kicked him inside.

"Tsuna? What are you here?" asked Yamamoto. "I… umm… I just want to see everyone's progress"

"You don't have to give your attention to him. I train him well, scum" Squalo stated. "I see. A-Anyway, thanks for helping us out, Squalo" Tsuna said.

"VOOOIIII!" he screamed, which made Tsuna more terrified.

"I don't help a group of trash! I'm here to pay Varia's debt to Chronos Yuki. We owe her our life" he crossed his arms. "If she hadn't been there, we would be as good as dead" he mumbled to himself.

"I guess we don't have to worry about Yamamoto's training. Then, see you, Yamamoto, Squalo" Tsuna, with Reborn settled on his head left.

Then, they went to Gokudera's and Ryohei's training. Although Gokudera was trained by Lal, his training went well, despite their contradiction. Ryohei was trained by Colonnello and Colonnello himself stated that there's no need to see him, since he'd be fine.

Tsuna and Reborn then went to Kokuyo. As they searched the two pineapple hair, they found them at an unused section in Kokuyo.

"Boss, why are you here?" Chrome asked. "I want to see your condition. How is it?" Tsuna asked.

"It went well. I'm alright boss"

"Kufufufu… don't you worry about Chrome, Sawada Tsunayoshi. I take care of her really well" Mukuro smirked. "Thanks for tutoring her, Mukuro" Reborn said.

"Tutoring? You seem mistaken here. I'm not here just to be her tutor, I happen to take an interest on this matter as I heard everything from Chrome. And also, I can't let any vampire touch my Chrome"

"O-Okay then. I'm not going to worry anymore. Mukuro, Chrome, I'll be going now. See you", with that said, the duo left Kokuyo. As they walked, Tsuna said "That leaves Hibari-san. I hope he partake his training"

With walking patiently, even though he knew his time was running out, Tsuna managed to get there before an hour passed, but they saw Dino's stressful face near the gate, so they approached him.

"Ah, Tsuna. How should is say this? Haah… I have a bad news. Kyouya won't train no matter what I do. He said he's too busy with patrolling the school, protecting Namimori, and all"

"What? Hibari-san said that? Then, I'll go persuade him, I… guess"

Tsuna along with Dino and Reborn went inside as he sweated along the way. It was really true about Hibari as they spotted him patrolling.

"You again? I'm too busy. Leave me alone" Hibari was about to avoid them by walking away from them, but suddenly, Tsuna said "I thought you want to fight a strong opponent. The only way to get that is to hear what Dino-san has to say. Stop being so stubborn, Hibari-san"

"Even if you say so, I won't affiliate myself with all of you"

"Don't you want to know who incapacitated Yuki?" Reborn's words caught his intention. "What are you saying? That woman is the strongest person I've ever met" he furrowed.

"She is, but our enemies this time may hunt her and they're stronger than any human"

"…What happened to her?"

"She was assaulted by one of her race and got poisoned. She's hospitalized now" Tsuna answered. Then, right after Tsuna answered, he jumped from the window and left them, dumbfounding Reborn's students.

Hibari couldn't stop staring with shock as he set foot in the room where the girl he always thought strong wore an oxygen mask and lying on bed. He clenched his fist tremblingly with anger on his face and then he was about to leave the room, but Giotto opened the door and he was surprise seeing Hibari there. But without saying anything, Hibari went through him and Giotto stared at the boy.

"You can't do anything about it. Even if you want to bite the person to death, you can't. He's already dead" Giotto voiced, which made Hibari stopped. But without even countered him, Hibari completely disappeared from his sight. Seeing how stubborn Hibari was, he sighed and then went inside.

…

"Hibari-san! Where have you been?" Tsuna asked, waiting for Hibari with Dino and Reborn on the rooftop.

"…I won't accept that sight of hers. Oi, bronco" Hibari called.

"W-What?"

"Let's get this started" Hibari had his stance and tonfas on. "I'll bite the person who did that to her to death"

"Hi-Hibari-san, you're…"

"Let's continue your training, Tsuna. He'll be fine" Reborn called.

…

"I bet you're wondering why someone like Hibari want to cooperate" Reborn voiced as he watched over Tsuna who was training.

"Yeah, but I think I know now" Hyper Dying Will Tsuna spoke.

"Hm?"

"Yuki is always the strongest person in his eyes. He doesn't want to accept the fact that she can be defeated. In a way, he's just like us. I may not know whether this training will do well on me, but I'll take everything you give me, Reborn. So, stop playing around"

"Those vampires aren't nice like Yuki. Your blood will be sucked to death and they're hundred times stronger than average humans"

"I'd rather be sucked to death than to let her be treated like a defective killing machine and to be thrown away like that"

"I failed to protect her before... How can I protect everyone if I can't even protect the one I love?" Tsuna furrowed his eyes that full of conviction and resolve.

Upon hearing him, Reborn smirked and said "You've said the words, but…"

Leon changed his form to a gun and Reborn pointed the gun at Tsuna. "Prove it. I won't hold back"

At first, Tsuna was surprised. Although he once fought him before, that Reborn looked serious and really wouldn't hold back. He just stood while staring at Reborn's solemn look.

"What's with that face? She's special to you, right? If you don't get serious on this, I'll shoot her in her sleep"

"Y-You wouldn't dare… N-No, wait. You would" Tsuna, for the first time glared at Reborn, but that glare somehow excited him.

"I won't let you touch her, even if it's you, Reborn!"

With that said, Tsuna really charged in to Reborn and punched him several times, although Reborn was only blocking his punch. It was really hard for Tsuna to hurt him. To put an end to him, Tsuna blasted his XX burner without hesitation. Reborn saw the look on Tsuna's face and it was the contradiction of his previous looks when he fought Reborn at arcobaleno trial. And where they were training, it was at the island where Tsuna and Reborn fought each other for the first time.

With only seeing his face Reborn was happy and it was the first time he felt of giving all-out to Tsuna. But despite how fast and strong his XX burner was, the only thing he hit was his fedora.

Surprisingly, Reborn appeared in front of Tsuna and was going to punch him, but it was Reborn who was being surprised as Tsuna's form changed into a flame.

"_A flame?"_ Reborn thought inwardly. Then from behind him, another XX burner was fired and this time, it successfully hit Reborn. As the dust gradually disappeared, it appealed Reborn's state as he was hit to the rock.

"You condensed your flame and like a clay, you shaped it into your figure. It's similar to illusions. Tell me, where did you learn that?" Reborn asked.

"I happened to be training with Yuki personally without anyone's or your consent. Though it's not as simple as it sounds"

"I see. You have reached into a whole new level, Tsuna" Reborn walked to his fedora and put it on. "Wait, what are you doing? We're not finished yet" Tsuna stated.

"I have nothing to teach you"

"Why?"

"You've already learn a lot from Yuki. It's more than enough"

…

Giotto never stepped away from the hospital. Despite being wrapped by bandages, he still took care of the universe guardian. At that night, he was reading a book, and then suddenly, nature called. So he left the room to go to the bathroom.

Unknown to him and after he left, Yuki finally opened her eyes. Her eyes told that she was consumed by something in her thought. She was so weakened that she even couldn't lift her own head or body. Her head kept resting on to the pillow.

Then, she stretched her hand to the ceiling, she was using all of the strength she had to summon a sword or a gun, but with her little power left, she could only summon a knife. She prepared to stab herself. As she pulled the knife directly to her heart, before she could hurt herself, all of the sudden, Giotto pulled away her hand, took off her oxygen mask and kissed her. He pinned her hand that held the knife behind her head and pinned her other rested hand.

He kept kissing and kissing every corner of her lips and she couldn't do anything to fight back. And as he had done with the kiss, her lips was wet by him.

"What are you doing? Trying to commit suicide behind my back" he said, putting her oxygen mask.

"Why did you stop me? I deserve to die. If I die, they won't harm any of you" she averted her face while blushing.

"Suicide won't settle this. Even if you die, they will still come after us"

"You're wrong. Their true objective is me, so they won't come here if I die. I want… to die, in order to maintain your peace. It's the least I can do with my destructive power"

Upon hearing her answer, he held her chin and turned her face to his face. "If I catch you trying to kill yourself again, I'll kiss you, but next time, it'll be much rough" he gazed.

"…Y-You're bluffing"

"I'll never lie to you. I enjoy doing it. I'll make you feel what it's like to be weakened by me along with the pleasure I'll give you" he said with solemn face as he licked his own lips.

"C-Could you please let me go?" she embarrassed. "I'll let go if you promise you won't do it again"

After she heard she should promise, she felt like she was beaten. Since she was a competitive and stubborn person, she disputed, saying "I won't promise anything"

"Then, don't regret it later if I caught you do that" he finally let go then went outside to bring his book.

"Giotto, you idiot. You know very well this is the only way to end this"

…

"What? Really? She's awake?" Tsuna said joyously. "Yeah. Do you want to visit her?" Reborn asked while wiping his gun.

"Ah, make sure you bring your entire guardian" he added.

"For what?"

"All of you will be given a present for your hard work training"

Like Reborn suggested, Tsuna called them and together with them, they went to the hospital.

Meanwhile at the place, Giotto who was at Yuki's room was about to go out.

"Tsuna just called me. He and his guardians will be here. So, be a good girl and don't do anything reckless" with that said, he left.

However, Yuki's condition didn't get better. Just for her to breath normally, she still needed the oxygen mask and her face was still pale. But the only thing that wasn't weakened was her attempt to take her own life. Once again, she summoned another weapon but it was a gun this time and she directed it to her heart.

"Everyone, I'm sorry"

The triggered was pulled and the bullet had blasted, but to her surprise, a Hyper Dying Will mode Giotto caught the bullet and melted the gun with his flame. Then with still hyper mode, he pinned both her hands upwards, which behind her head while staring at her with the passionate and warm color of his orange eyes.

"I'll punish you"

He took off her mask and kissed her passionately. But in a way, she did felt the pleasure like he said, even though she didn't like it. He tried to enter his tongue inside her mouth and with a force, his tongue entered and played with her tongue. He could taste her tongue and to him, it was sweet. He couldn't stop to lick her tongue.

As he pulled away, it wasn't the end of it. His tongue snaked to her neck and licked it, making her more vulnerable. He nipped her neck and not giving away any mercy.

"S-Stop it…" she said with shaken voice.

But he didn't listen as he licked her ear. Then from her ear, he was back to her lips and kissed her roughly like he did it with lust. He attempted another tongue licking, but with her condition, she couldn't resist one bit. They felt more of the tense and full of sweat kiss as his saliva flowing inside her mouth.

His Hyper Dying Will mode gave no refrain and kept pushing her to the ground. The kissing and the licking became more intense and rougher in each passing second.

"Giotto… -san?"

The ones who watched Giotto kissed Yuki were Tsuna and his guardians. They couldn't stop feeling embarrassed as they saw that.

"Wh-What are you doing in your hyper mode with Yuki?" Tsuna widened his eyes in shock and blushed as well, like the others.

"I-It's not what it looks like" she denied as she blushed. Then, Giotto let go of her hands and put back her oxygen mask.

"I'm punishing her" he said casually and off with his hyper mode.

"It doesn't matter. Moreover, what are you guys doing here?" Yuki asked.

"Ah, we want to visit you and tell you that our training is done"

"Training?" she looked puzzled.

"It's for the preparation to fight those vampires" Gokudera answered.

"What?" she suddenly lifted her body, but felt the astonishing pain, so Giotto carefully laid her down to the bed.

"Are you out of your mind? You can't hurt them let alone survive from them!" she put her anger face. But after she said that, her face got paler of needed the oxygen to breath slowly and also because of her unsteady heartbeat by the anger.

"Please don't push yourself, Yuki-san" Chrome said.

"What… are you trying to accomplish from… your training?" she asked.

"They're ready, Yuki. You still have it, right?" Reborn asked. Yuki widened her eyes and said "No… I won't let them"

"Yuki" Tsuna voiced.

"You always do whatever it takes to protect us. You always protect us and never look into your own life, but…" he hung his head.

Then, he lifted his head with conviction eyes. "This time… we'll be protecting you"

Not just Tsuna, everyone was resolved to protect her and Namimori. Yuki widened her eyes in surprise as she heard his declaration. She knew nothing could change their minds. She let out a vial from her pocket and pills what was inside of it.

"If you drink this, you'll have the capability to hurt them, but use it carefully. This is a one-time pills and it last for a day, it means, no matter when you use it, it'll stop at 12 midnight. So, use it well"

Yuki handed it to Tsuna and Tsuna shared it with his guardians.

"Where's Enma and his Family?" she asked. "They're still busy with their training. I'll give it to them" Tsuna said. "According to my dream, the battle will begin tomorrow. So, rest your body and mind now" she said. "Don't worry. I have him here with me" Yuki looked at Giotto with a smile.

Tsuna nodded and said "We'll protect Namimori and you, Yuki. I swear on that"

As a reply, Yuki smiled and said "Thank you"

With that settled, everyone left for a rest, all hoped to survive and win. But as they gone, Yuki's face turned as if she was in much pain of something she regretted or thought of. And also, the lost smile on her face switched into a tearful eyes.

"_I hope I can protect all of you… in my last day"_


	13. The beginning of the end

**XIII**

* * *

><p>On the very cloudy night as it was covering the sky, Tsuna, Reborn and his guardians, besides Mukuro were on their way to their own place, preparing for the day. However, Hibari went straight to his beloved school, so they have been separated. Of course, all of them were feeling nervous, since their opponents were inhuman.<p>

"Is it okay to leave her with Giotto-san?" Tsuna asked worryingly. "They'll be fine, boss. Mukuro-sama and I have combined our powers to conceal the hospital and their whereabouts" Chrome replied.

"But if both of you were injured badly, won't the illusions wear off? Moreover, don't forget your organs were made by Mukuro. With only him to get hurt, automatically, they don't need to hurt you" Reborn assumed.

"That's why I trained hard and do my best to make sure that Mukuro-sama doesn't get hurt"

Hearing that, Tsuna smiled with relief and said "Thank you, Chro-"

"Tenth! Watch out!" Gokudera suddenly shouted and pushed Tsuna forward. To their surprise, a large attack almost hit them. Luckily, they managed to dodge it. But the attack was strong that it managed to create a deep hole.

"Are you Vongola decimo?" a person appeared as she stood on the roof.

"Th-They're here already? I thought it's tomorrow. No way Yuki make this kind of mistake" Tsuna made a disbelief face.

"No, considering her condition, it's possible" Reborn said.

"Answer me, dirty mortal. Are you Vongola decimo?"

Tsuna drank his pill with the one Yuki gave him and turned into hyper mode. "Don't you dare touch Yuki" he clenched his hand.

"That's for us to decide. Now, where's Yuki-sama?"

"We can take you on!" Ryohei shouted, and so everyone drank the pill Yuki gave. They only have 4 hours left.

"I would keep my arrogance if I were you" as she said that, a group of vampire appeared behind her. "We won't harm you and forget our revenge, unless you keep protecting her" she added.

"As if we'd tell you!" Gokudera pointed his weapon at her.

Seeing how incorporate they were, the woman whispered to several vampires and the vampires left the scene. Two headed to where Mukuro and Hibari were, and one headed to Tsuna's home.

"My mother has nothing to do with this!" Tsuna yelled.

"On the contrary, being the mother of you, she does"

Tsuna furrowed his eyes of the unpleasant act of the woman. When he was going to his home, Gokudera, Ryohei, and Yamamoto volunteered to go instead.

"I'll go to Mukuro-sama, boss" Chrome also left the scene.

"Tsuna, I think we should warn Enma and gave them the pills" Reborn suggested. At first, Tsuna glared at the woman with a bit of anger, but he knew he had to put aside that anger and went to Enma with full speed, leaving the remaining vampire behind.

"What should we do now?" one of the vampires spoke. "Nothing, for now. Just wait for my order"

…

Using the propulsion of the flame as a jet, Tsuna with Reborn on his back flew to Enma as fast as he could. Since he was fast, they arrived at the place shortly after and Tsuna just barged in to his house. "Sorry to barge in like this, but drink this pills, fast!" Tsuna handed over the pills to them, explained how it worked and they accepted it.

"What's going on?" Adelheid asked. "They're here, aren't they?"

Tsuna nodded and said "I have to go now. Meet me at my house afterwards"

"Wait, Tsuna-kun. I'll come with you" Enma said so.

Thus, Tsuna now went to his house, hoping his mother and the kids would be safe. They arrived there safe and sound without any interruption from vampires and he also sighed in relief as he saw his house's condition was okay. Then, the trio came out with pale face.

"T-Tenth…? I'm sorry I failed you" Gokudera bowed. Tsuna immediately knew what he meant and he was going to enter the house uncontrollably. But Yamamoto and Gokudera held him.

"C-Calm down, Tsuna" Yamamoto said. "I-I have to go see them!" Tsuna struggled to let go.

"Sawada" Ryohei voiced. "The sight is too extreme for you to look at. I don't think you should ever see it"

Tsuna's eyes grew wider in frighten and pale face as he heard what Ryohei had said. "Why… Why them?" Tsuna clenched his fists tremblingly.

"You need to be strong, in order to survive" a familiar voice appeared on the roof. "This is the mafia world. You for one, won't understand"

"Woman, what do you know about tenth?" Gokudera fired his bomb, but a strange wind cut off the rope. "What do you know about the mafia world?" Reborn asked.

"Yuki-sama isn't the only who work for mafia. Almost all aristocrats are working for mafia, but not for Vongola"

"That's why she's a threat to us. Of course, all that matters now is her and not the Vongola anymore. So, tell me where's she?"

"I won't answer that" Tsuna had readied his X burner. However, the woman mysteriously smiled and jumped from the roof. "Then, catch me, if you can"

"Wait here, everyone" Tsuna also jumped and followed the person.

He used his Big Bang Axle on her, but she neutralized it with her cloak. Tsuna was having a hard time getting himself to use his XX burner, since she was agile. When Tsuna dashed towards her faster, strangely, she stopped and turned to him. His punch was blocked by her. "You're not as strong as I thought" she commented.

"Don't you think it's too soon to say that?"

"What?"

The 'Tsuna' that was in front of her began to show its true form and to her surprise, it was a condensed flame. The real Tsuna was behind her and already charged his XX burner. He successfully released it, but when he thought he hit her, he did not. In fact, she almost got hit, but managed to dodge it by appeared behind Tsuna.

"I take back my words. You're really strong, Vongola decimo" some parts of her cloak were burnt. "_It'll be too dangerous for me alone to confront him_" she thought inwardly. "Let's continue our tag" she ran again.

…

At the time, Hibari was sitting on his office in Nami middle. Out of the blue, he felt an earthquake, but he didn't mind. But the second one was different, as if something big was at the school. As he felt that, he stood up from his chair and stared at the pill thoughtfully.

He walked to the baseball field and saw a cream long-haired man was destroying the school, which snapped Hibari.

"Ne, stop what you're doing now" Hibari prepared his tonfas. "Or what? You'll bite me to death?" the man asked.

"Precisely"

"Then, you're Hibari Kyoya. Your school is indeed a beautiful place to share knowledge at. I love this place. It breaks my heart to destroy it"

"As much as I hate being ordered, I have no choice"

"Hm? Then why? Messing up this school is a serious violation, vampire"

"I want to see you" the man let out two crescent weapons. "I want to fight you"

…

The man attacked the cloud with his two unusual weapons and he was very fast, but Hibari was fast too as he dodge every single attack. The last slash the man gave cut Hibari's right cheek and he had to back away because of it and the vampire did the same.

"This may be irony for you, but you're going to be bite to death by me very soon" it was Hibari's turn now to assault him, but like Hibari himself, he dodged all of his attack. And like a déjà vu, spikes appeared from his tonfas and cut the man's left cheek. The man wiped the blood from his cheek while saying "So you've drank that pill"

"How do you know about the pill?" Hibari questioned.

"It's dangerous pills for us. To think that Yuki-sama still has those, she must have foreseen this future long ago"

"Long ago?"

"When she was 14"

"There's no point talking about her. You may say she's rather… random or unpredictable. No one knows what she's truly thinking about" the man added.

"Isn't that what made her untouchable?" Hibari had activated his Vongola Gear, which the sight made the man smiled. Hibari summoned several mini versions of hedgehog and surrounded the man. However, the man easily pushed it all away.

"Touché. But I don't think it's primarily based on that. And also, there's something that's been bugging me"

"What will you accomplish from protecting her? I won't destroy your school, if you tell me. You're an aloof cloud and hates affiliating with anyone, but what you're doing now contradicts those natures"

"I'm not affiliating with anyone. I do this because I want to"

"I want to regain the peace of Namimori and to have a match with her, once this is all over"

"Hmm… you're an interesting man. Then let's get this over with" the vampire grinned and his eyes turned from blue to yellow, the true color of vampires. With that, the two continued the fight.

…

Three hours remaining for them until midnight. It had been an hour since Tsuna chased the leader. She seemed to be toying with him as she kept running away. Though, it wasn't just an intentionally running, it was also their fight as they delivered blows of various attacks, causing damage to most of the town. Then, she jumped to the ground and changed her track. As they were passing Nami middle, all of the sudden, Tsuna sensed something from inside. He knew Hibari was there and he had to pick whether he should continue or postpone the chase.

Of course, knowing Tsuna, he cared most for his Family. So, he chose to go inside. At the field, he saw Hibari was standing in front of a body, and then walked away from it, seemed like he won. But unknown to Hibari, the enemy stood up and was about to deliver a deadly blow. But Tsuna quickly froze him. By then, Hibari just realized the enemy behind him was frozen behind his back. Thank goodness he postponed the chase, so as Tsuna thought.

"I don't need help" Hibari spoke with pissed tone and face.

"Sorry"

Upon hearing his apologize, Hibari turned away from him and said "Never mind". But after he said that, he suddenly dropped himself.

"Are you okay, Hibari?" Tsuna approached him.

"Go" Hibari voiced.

"You're in the middle of something important, right? I don't need your attention"

"Tenth!" his earpiece suddenly voiced Gokudera. "Where are you now?"

"I'm at Nami middle. What's wrong?"

"We've just encountered two enemies. But with the help of Shimon Family, we won. But…"

"Mukuro and Chrome were defeated, tenth. We're just there, but we're too late"

Tsuna's eyes grew wider and quivered hearing the news. "But you're still chasing her, right?" Gokudera asked.

"…"

"Tenth?"

"I'll call you later" Tsuna disconnected and bluntly went to search for the woman while hoping for Yuki's safety.

…

Tsuna arrived at the hospital and thankfully, the place was still in one piece. Nonetheless, her room was supposed to be the top priority. His worst fear became reality as he saw the empty bed of hers and a fabric of clothing that belonged to the leader.

"Tsuna" Giotto appeared behind him. "I'm sorry" he apologized with sad face. Tsuna snapped and grabbed his collar and shouted, "Why didn't you stop Yuki?"

"I did, Tsuna. I did try, but she caught me off guard"

Tsuna finally let Giotto go and clenched the fabric inside his hand. "Now that she's gone, she's not safe. We need to find her" Tsuna stated and Giotto agreed.

Therefore, everyone met up at the park and split again to find the missing girl. Not just them, the remaining vampires also searched for her, but her presence was scattered everywhere, as if she was trying to play with their minds. It was like a goose chase.

"This leads us to nowhere" one of vampire spoke. "There's only one way" the leader spoke. She lifted her hand above and blasted a firework from her hand. The defeated vampires, except for the frozen one opened their eyes and flew above.

"It appears we're missing one person" she spoke. "No matter. This'll do"

…

"Tsuna, look at that!" Yamamoto pointed to the sky.

"D-Didn't we defeat those two?" Enma surprised.

"It looks like they're charging a big attack. Are they trying to destroy the entire town?" Tsuna's eyes were quivering.

Hearing that, Hibari was going to jump towards them, but Reborn stopped him. "We're out of time"

"What do you mean, baby?" Hibari questioned. "We've been searching for Yuki for more than three hours and it seems that the attack that will be blasted take few hours to be charged"

"We can't harm them anymore" he added.

"This will settle all" the leader spoke.

"Isn't there's something we can do?" Gokudera asked Reborn.

"On the count of five, all will be annihilated" the leader spoke again.

_5…_

"Reborn-san!"

_4…_

"What about you, Giotto?" Tsuna asked.

_3…_

"…My power alone can't block that kind of attack"

_2…_

"We have to do something!" Tsuna yelled.

_1…_

"There's no time…"

_0…_

_May you rest in peace, humans._


	14. Finale

**XIV**

* * *

><p>"<em>On the count of five, all will be annihilated" the leader spoke again.<em>

_5…_

"_Reborn-san!"_

_4…_

"_What about you, Giotto?" Tsuna asked._

_3…_

"…_My power alone can't block that kind of attack"_

_2…_

"_We have to do something!" Tsuna yelled._

_1…_

"_There's no time…"_

_0…_

_May you rest in peace, humans._

…

It was a simple mistake, yet lead to demise. They have the power, but they misused it. If they knew this would happen, they wouldn't trouble themselves to focus on the search. Vampires concealed their presence very good, so as everyone thought. But regrets came in the end, one of the facts about life. When the enemies blasted their gigantic beam, they thought that it was the end.

But it was not.

In the nick of time, suddenly, a person appeared above the sky, hovering with its black wings, and blocked the attack with a shield.

"That's… Yuki…?" Tsuna with everyone eyed on one person.

"Y-Yuki-sama…? Finally you show yourself" the woman smiled eerily.

"As long as I'm still alive, I won't let this town and everyone in it to be hurt" she faced the attack directly as she kept shielding them with her barrier. However, the shield began to crack and she started to bleed from her mouth.

"What are you doing? Get out of there!" Tsuna yelled.

"He's right, Yuki-sama. If you keep forcing yourself, you'll die. Even though you'll successfully stop the attack, we can still hurt the Vongola"

"I know that"

"What?"

"M-Milady" one of them spoke with trembled voice. "Our neck… they're…"

An unfamiliar writing circling around their neck and they started to go panic.

"All of you will die… along with me" Yuki smirked sinisterly, yet with painful face.

"W-Why are you keep walking to your death, Yuki? Stop this!" Tsuna shouted.

"It has to be this way" she voiced. "This is my destiny. And also one that I can't avoid"

"You don't live only with destiny!"

"I do"

"It's what keeping you alive"

Again, the shield began to crack again and again. She was at her peak, but she had crossed her limit. Tsuna and everyone could only watch her with a shock and trembled eyes.

.

_I'm not afraid of death anymore. I'll see you soon, mother._

_._

"I won't let you do this alone"

Giotto turned into hyper mode and flew above the sky, confronting her. Yuki was stood in silent with widened eyes as she saw him.

"I'll give all my power" he stood near her and she turned right to face him.

"Yuki" Giotto held her one hand and his other hand reached his pocket.

"I know it's not the best time, but …"

Then, he kneeled while holding her left hand and reached out a certain item.

"Will you marry me?"

Everyone listened as he proposed and stood in silent, watching the two.

"H-How did you know I…"

"You accidentally slipped it out in your sleep"

"…Now it's not the perfect time"

"Even so, I want to do this now and I need your answer now, before we're completely set out. This is what I've planned long ago"

Then he stood up and said "I won't leave you alone. Nothing can separate us. So, is it a yes or a no, Chronos Yuki?"

Yuki stared blankly at him with trembling eyes. But not long after, she smiled with tearful eyes.

"Yes"

And so, Giotto put the ring to her finger. She hugged him while smiling as she shed her tears, and he hugged her back. Like the harmony of the sky and the stars, the two couple hugged each other for the last time with a tearful smile. Slowly, the barrier began to break as they waited for their time. And finally, the shield broke and hit them.

The attack was completely devoured by their sacrifice and the enemies ran away afterwards. Even though they won, what difference would it make if Yuki and Giotto died? Everyone was consumed by the same thought.

But the lost time couldn't be coming back. It waited for no one and kept moving on. Everyone was exhausted, so they decided to remorse at their place. Tsuna and Reborn arrived in front of his house, but he felt reluctant of going inside.

"Come on, Tsuna. Do you want to go inside or not?" Reborn asked. "How am I supposed to go inside when-"

"Tsu-kun?"

Both Tsuna and Reborn shocked of what they heard. They thought, it could be their mind toying with them. But when they looked behind them, it was real, with I-Pin and Lambo she carried.

"M-Mom? I-I thought you… where were you?"

"About that, I'm sorry. Even you're my son, it's supposed to be a secret between us" Nana apologized. "Anyway, where were you two?"

"J-Just meeting up with some friends" Tsuna answered. "I see. Then I'm going to put I-Pin and Lambo to their bed. You too should go to sleep" Nana went inside. Meanwhile, Tsuna put a puzzled look while Reborn put a skeptic look.

"Reborn… what's going on here? If mom's alive, then what did they saw?"

"I don't have any clue. Anyway, you should inform Gokudera, Yamamoto, and Ryohei about this"

And so, they went inside and the battle had ended with the loss of the two persons. The night went on peacefully with a figure stared and faced Tsuna's house with a person on its arms, hiding its presence from anyone.

…

At school at recess time, Tsuna gathered the three and explained what he saw.

"Then she's not dead…?" Ryohei asked in surprise and Tsuna nodded.

"I-I'm glad tenth's mother is alive" Gokudera trembled, but felt relieved.

"So do I, but I still haven't got the answer who drove my mother, Lambo, and I-Pin out of the house" Tsuna said.

"Whoever it is, that person must've purposely driven them outside, but not by force. More like they were invited. And the corpse you all see must be an illusion" Reborn said.

"I don't understand" Ryohei crossed his arms. "Idiot! That means someone saved them, lawn-head!"

"By the way, you guys haven't told Kyoko-chan and Haru about this right?" Tsuna asked.

"Don't worry, Tsuna. We didn't even tell anything about Yuki and primo too, but we don't know how long we can hide the truth"

Everyone's emotion and expression turned sad as Yamamoto said their name. Silence filled the air.

"Do you want to go to my house after school?" Tsuna broke the silence. "I thought, maybe you're still worried about my mom"

Everyone simultaneously said yes, they were excited about it. And after school, just like what they discussed, they went to Tsuna's house. Yamamoto and Ryohei played with the kids.

However, Tsuna was silent. He silently watched them while putting a sad face.

"It's not your fault, Tsuna" Reborn voiced while stroking Leon. "But if only I knew she would do that. Moreover, I'm too stupid to realize my own feelings"

"You don't have to feel sorrow about our death anymore, Tsuna"

All of the sudden, a familiar voice spoke and their eyes immediately were on who entered his house.

"G-Giotto-san…? You're alive?" Tsuna and everyone widened their eyes in shock. "And her as well" Giotto referred to the person he carried.

"She's alive too?" Tsuna asked but with the slight relieved tone and Giotto nodded. "We should tell everyone about this, tenth!" Gokudera shouted. "Y-You're right. Enma-kun and everyone must be worried. Is she okay?"

"She's asleep. She used too much of her power"

"I'm afraid I can't stay longer" he added. "Why? Where are you going?" Tsuna asked.

"Italy"

"Eh? What for?"

"For her" Giotto stared at Yuki. "You'll know soon. Just wait for an invitation, Tsuna"

"What?"

"See you in Italy" with that, Giotto left.

…

The Vongola sky was flying in the sky itself as he stared at the view from the plane with the sleeping girl beside him. As he arrived at the Vongola HQ, he was greeted by all Mafioso and Ninth. But he straightly put Yuki to bed.

"Could you please watch her while I'm gone?" Giotto asked. "It's fine by me, but where are you going?" he asked as he saw Giotto was leaving.

"To her grandfather"

…

"You have a visitor, Chronos-sama" a butler came to an old man in his office.

"I don't have time for that. Tell that person to leave"

"But you might be interested in this one"

"Why?"

"He's human"

"I see" the old one smirked. "Tell him to come in"

As he ordered, he let the visitor to come in. "You must be the one who'll marry my granddaughter"

"How did you know that?"

"You don't need to know that" he spoke as he sat on his chair while Giotto sat in front of him. "Iieve will be happy about this if she's alive. She was always dreaming that she would have a handsome son-in-law. Of course, I'm happy for Yuki too"

"You do know she's not supposed to get marry due to the short lifespan she has" Giotto said.

"Then why do you propose her in the first place?"

"Because I don't want to let her suffer alone and die without living the life she always wanted. I also want to stay by her side, forever". Then he continued, "I'm here to collect the debt of your ancestor"

"Oh, I remembered. You were once spared his life, which is your enemy. And he was in debt to you. So what can I do for you?"

"With that power you have, you should be able to extend her lifespan"

"I'll do it" the man said. "But on one condition"

"You need to let go of your human side and become a pureblood vampire in order for your future child to inherit Chronos"

Giotto's eyes grew wider as he heard him. Truthfully, he didn't want their child to bear Chronos, but he believed that their child would understand.

"Fine"

"That won't ever happen!" a person barged in and surprisingly, it was Yuki, sweating and panting. She was still too weak to walk. As she fell, Giotto caught her.

She gripped his collar and glared, saying "I won't let your pure human side to become a dirty vampire"

Then, she stood up and faced her grandfather. "My, you don't look well, my granddaughter"

Yuki stared at his face unpleasantly. "Leave us, Giotto"

"No. I know what you're thinking. You don't need to sacrifice anything. It's my turn now"

Seeing the resolve on his eyes, Yuki knew she couldn't say anything to make him change his mind.

"I understand your feelings. But don't worry, I just want to talk to him. Okay?" she smiled reassuringly. And so, Giotto left the reunion family to talk.

As Yuki stared at the door where he left, her grandfather spoke "Lucky you have such a perfect fiancé. Your child will be the greatest Chronos of all, no doubt"

Yuki turned her face to him and glared menacingly. "I don't approve any of this" she voiced.

"Then do you want to have a short lifespan? You agreed to marry, but it's not the same if you died in such a young age"

"What makes you think you know what that feels?" she asked cynically. "I may be a Chronos, but I still have emotion of 'love'. Your grandmother was like you, only live until 20"

"Grandmother…" Yuki clenched her fist tightly and quivered. "I believe if I have a child, that child would accept the position wholeheartedly"

"But…"

"…I can't let Giotto to be a vampire"

He stared at her silently, as if he had something in mind.

"Why don't I turn you into human?"

"What?" Yuki flinched. "Without killing you, of course" he added. "That's just the same as bring people back to life. It's impossible"

"Really? Look into the mirror, Yuki". She finally realized what he meant.

"What's the condition?" she doubtfully asked. "None"

"That's absurd"

"Don't think it that way. Think of it as a grandfather who'll give you a wedding present, and also a separating gift"

"But you should know. Once you become human, you won't have the endurance as strong as vampire. Moreover, you'll be exiled from your home. You can't come back here or contact us"

"I don't buy it" she crosses her arms. "If I left, then who'll become the next head? You're not the type of person who let go of Chronos that easy"

"One Chronos is alive"

Yuki flinched as she heard the news. "He's… alive? I thought he was killed"

"He's at the verge of death before Vongola arrived at his mansion. Cole is safe here, with me"

"So, what will it be?"

"Fine. We have an agreement"

"Good. I'll grant your wish and turn you into human"

"But…" he spoke a sentence.

With the sentence he said, Yuki's eyes grew wider and quavered upon hearing it.

"It's… okay with me. At least, he's not alone anymore"

"Excellent. Then I'm going to change you now. After that, you let Giotto drink your blood. That will make him that he'll become like us"

"You have to live with these lies forever" he added and she nodded. With that settled, they began the process, unknown to Giotto.

…

Few weeks have passed since they made their each contract. At one morning, Tsuna who just woke up was greeted by his friends at the living room, all wearing formal attire.

"Wait… is this one of your schemes, Reborn? Did you fake another wedding?" Tsuna asked. Reborn placed the invitation card on his face and said "See this before you're being skeptic". He saw the card thoroughly and gasped as he saw the two names written.

Tsuna was the only one who hadn't prepared. So, his proclaimed right-hand-man assisted him to prepare.

Few hours after that, they have arrived at Italy. The wedding place was beautifully decorated as the field was colored by white roses scattered throughout the place. It was the contradiction of what Yuki usually wore. This time, it was a pure white event. It was held near the Vongola HQ.

After the wait, finally, the wedding was held. It was supposed to be a peaceful event, Tsuna thought. Since most guests were from Vongola, they were not normal. They liked to create hazardous mess and he was afraid they would ruin the weeding.

But after few hours the party, the only chaos they made was their noisy habit and tendency to go free and wild at any party as well as Lambo quarreled with Gokudera and Ryohei over the food. Despite the chaos, Yuki and Giotto were smiling and laughing instead, not bothered by it one bit.

There were many wedding gifts stacking. Surprisingly, Giotto gave her a surprise, which was a new house from him they would be staying when they got back to Japan. Yuki felt back of not giving anything to him, but he stated that she already gave him too much, which confused her of what she gave him.

…

One month after, the new wedding couple went back to Japan and went to Tsuna's house.

"Welcome back!" Nana ran towards her and hugged her joyously.

'You two look well" Iemitsu appeared from inside. "Come in! I'm in the middle of making breakfast" Nana chirped, pulling Yuki's hand. "Can I cook in your place?" Yuki offered.

Nana surprised of the offer, but she gleefully agreed.

Tsuna, Reborn, Bianchi, Iemitsu, Nana, and Giotto sat at each chair while Yuki was cooking. She looked like she enjoyed cooking, seeing from her face. Then, Nana whispered something to Giotto. He stood up and hugged his wife from the back; his arms were circling around her.

"W-What are you doing? Everyone can see us" she tried to push him away, but couldn't.

"Aw, don't be that shy, Yuki. That's how you're supposed to act towards each other. Show your love! Don't tell me you've been acting all fidget and shy whenever he approaches you" Iemitsu teased.

"All the time, Iemitsu" he turned her face a bit and kissed her passionately. She picked a pan and hit Giotto on the head.

"Ouch. What was that for? That hurts" Giotto held his head. She snapped and approached him, rubbing head. "I'm sorry. It was a reflex" she rubbed while blushing.

"Yuki-chan" Nana voiced. "Why don't you sit down? I'll give you a lesson about being a wife" Nana happily took place with her

While at it, Iemitsu gave them a demo of what a husband and wife should do. He and she acted all romantic which made Tsuna felt awkward, Bianchi secretly imagined about her and Reborn gleefully. Yuki stared at them with pink cheeks. She took a note of everything they done and said while blushing and with innocent face, which made Giotto really happy and thought that she could even act that cute, too cute, he thought.

"So how is your first night?" Iemitsu asked.

"First night?" she questioned. "Yeah. What did you guys do? As for me and Nana, well, it's a secret. But it's a hot night and I completely dominated her" he answered proudly, making Nana acted more lovey-dovey.

"W-We didn't do anything" she blushed. "But I want to, though" Giotto voiced.

"A-Anyway, why didn't you say no, Nana-san? I mean, isn't it a bit too rush?" she asked. "Eh? How could I say no to a man like him? As a wife, I have to please my husband" she happily said.

"I hope I can bear that kind of life" she closed the note as her face became redder as tomato.

"But it is also our job to make each other happy and be by each side" Nana told.

That words she spoke flinched her, reminding her of something. Something that she would do when the time reached its point.

…

At night at her new home, she stood in front of the flower field as she stared her note. The stare on her eyes was not the curious stare, it was like a resolve, the conviction, but unknown what made her put those eyes.

Giotto walked towards her and circled his arms around her waist, smelling the scent of his wife's hair. "Do you really want to do it?" he asked. "It's part of the contract. Like Nana-san said, it's a wife's job to make her husband happy"

Having heard her, he chuckled and said "All that matter is that we start it today. We can do it slowly. You don't have to rush"

"No, it's all up to you. I trust you"

"Then whenever you're ready just come inside. I'll be waiting for you inside" he let go and headed inside. As he left, Yuki held the note again with a sad face. It was mysterious, like her.

"Are you really going to do it, Yuki-sama?" a person with a butler uniform wearing a full mask of a fox appeared. "I told you, stop calling me that. 'Yuki' is enough" she put the note inside the pocket.

"Sorry. So are you really going to do it?" he asked again. Yuki nodded and said "It's part of my contract. Because in the end, we're all involved"

"So you're willing to make him suffer again?"

"He won't be" Yuki let out a pocket watch and held it as she stared at it. "This time, one child will accompany him"

…

Few weeks later, a sign of pregnancy has been discovered in Yuki. Giotto was very happy, not because of the contract, but his dreams of having a child with her was fulfilled. And few months later, she finally gave birth to a brunette-haired boy. Right after she gave a birth, she slept with her child and Giotto inside the room.

However, Yuki opened her eyes. She secretly left the bed and wore a long cape as she wore the hood. She placed her Vongola ring and her precious pocket watch on the bed.

She held his hand for the last time with tearful and sad eyes, but then she smiled, the smile of separation, wasn't the happy type of smile. It was the gratitude smile.

"Thank you for everything, Giotto"

She reached to the window and was about to jump off. But before she left her husband and child for good, she turned her head to the sleeping man and smiled with glassy and quivered eyes.

"I love you"


	15. Epilogue

**EPILOGUE**

* * *

><p>"Gio! Where are you?" Giotto searched for his son, Giovo around the house. Finally, he found him playing with Shiro.<p>

"Come on. You need to take a bath" Giotto picked him up. Giovo was a nice kid. He didn't struggle as he was bathed and for a one year old boy, he could speak fluently. He was very smart, like his mother.

"Dad" he voiced. "I want mom. Will she be here on my birthday?"

Seeing how innocent he was, Giotto could only answer one. "She will. So, be a good boy until then, okay?"

"Okay!"

…

Few days later, Giovo's 2nd birthday party had been held at his house. Tsuna, Reborn, Gokudera, Yamamoto, Chrome, Ryohei, almost everyone had gathered, including the girls, Futa, Bianchi, Nana, and Giannini.

Everyone gave him a present and none he didn't feel happy about. All present brought him joy, but only one that could make him truly happy.

He waited for hours, but no sign of his mother had been seen. "Where's mom?" he asked.

Giotto didn't know what to do. So, he had to lie to his own son. He told him to wait, that she couldn't make it on time. Giovo, though he was very disappointed, he believed him. But he was too disappointed that when the party was still ongoing, he left to his room.

"Giotto-san" Tsuna voiced. "Will she really be back? When?"

"…"

Giotto stared at the door where Giovo left. Everyone was waiting for his answer.

"She won't"

"Wait. What? Why? Who told you that?" Tsuna asked in disbelief. "From an old friend"

...

"_...You're lying" Giotto widened his eyes in shock._

"_I'm afraid not. It's her punishment"_

"_I don't believe you. If you're her butler, what's the mask for?"_

"_It's… I can't tell you that"_

"_You may know me" he added._

"_What are you talking about?"_

_His butler sighed. Then he opened his mask, which shocked Giotto a lot._

"…_C-Cozart? How did you…"_

"_I came here after Vongola and Shimon aren't allowed to confront each other"_

"_I don't get it"_

"_When I was at the verge of death, Yuki's father healed me and brought me to this time, to serve her as a butler forever and they erased my memories. When I arrived here, she was 14. Right after when she got back from her mission, she regained my memories back"_

"_Why you?"_

"_I don't know"_

"_I see. How is her life there? She's a human now, right?"_

"_She…" Cozart hesitated at first, but then, he finally let out the truth._

"_She isn't happy at all. Many tried to suck her blood. But she could fight back and survive. There are also some vampires who are being abused by the mean ones, but despite that, she still protects them. She always helps the people who need her. She's still the same girl we love" he smiled reassuringly._

"_The situation is far more complicated that it sounds, Giotto. She couldn't escape from there. But despite her action, will you still love her and not marry any woman?"_

"_I'll always love her"_

_Hearing his answer, Cozart chuckled as a sign of satisfaction and said "That's all I need"_

"_What?"_

"_You don't have to worry about anything, Giotto. Just wait for a miracle to happen" after he said that, he left._

...

"How cruel" Tsuna mumbled about what her grandfather did.

"By the way, how is he? I mean my ancestor" Enma charged in curiosity. "He's fine. He's the usual Cozart" Enma felt relieved of the words.

"So, what are you going to tell Giovo? You can't lie to him forever" Reborn stated.

"I will do something about it" Giannini voiced.

"Eh? Do what?"

"You'll know, tenth" he smiled proudly.

…

"I'm back"

"Ah, welcome back, Cozart. Where have you been?" Yuki asked as she was cleaning the house.

"I was-" Cozart stopped as he saw the bandage on her wrist. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her sleeve.

"Were you… bitten?" his eyes grew wide. Yuki didn't say anything but to avert her face away from him.

"Have I told you not to recklessly fight while I'm gone?" he increased his voice.

"It's just a small bite. You're not my babysitter. I already told you to leave me here alone. Your task is only to deliver me here"

"There's no way I'll leave you with these monsters"

"Sorry" she apologized and then he sighed.

"Anyway, I was at Japan, seeing Giotto and your son", she widened her eyes of shock. "Did you... tell him?"

"Everything. Was I wrong to tell him?"

She shook her head and said "No. whether you tell him or not, it doesn't make much of a difference. Even if want to save me, there's nothing he can do about it". She walked away from him and headed to her room.

…

Giovo was devastated. He didn't left his room ever since. He was hoping so much and yet, it didn't go well for him. He kept hiding inside the blanket and not letting Giotto in, just Shiro with him.

All of the sudden, black mist appeared and changed into a form of a person. Giovo felt a touch from his hidden head and opened his blanket. He was surprised to see a woman sat next to him.

"Who are you?"

The person stroked his cheek and smiled. "What's your name?"

"Giovo. 'Gio' is from my father's name and 'vo' is from my grandfather's name"

"Your grandfather?"

"My mother's father"

"You speak fluently, Gio. I'm very surprised" she patted his head, which strangely made him happy.

"Who are you, sis? Only my dad call me 'Gio'"

"My name is Yuki. Why are you hiding yourself inside your blanket like this?"

"I'm mad at my dad. I want my mom for my birthday. I want to see her, but dad said I have to wait" he hugged his pillow as he huffed. Yuki picked him up and let him sit on her lap.

"I'm sorry" she hugged him, although she was an illusion, it felt real for her.

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Nothing"

"But I'm okay now, as long as you're here"

"Eh?" she blinked in disbelief. "I don't know why but I like you. Can you stay here until I fell asleep?"

"Sure" she smiled.

Giovo had told many things to her. He shared everything he knew and everything he saw. He didn't know why he was really fond of her. He felt calm and ease when he was at her lap. An hour later, Giovo grew tired and went asleep. Yuki gently put him and covered him.

Giovo was half asleep. He was going to grab her hand, but she was untouchable, like a mist.

"You can't touch me, Gio"

"Why?"

"This is just an illusion"

"So your body is at somewhere else?"

"So, you do know about illusion. Yes, my body is somewhere far"

"Will you see me again?"

"I…"

"Please" he stared at her, begging. She couldn't bear the feelings of wanting to hug her child, but she couldn't get out from her place. "It's a promise" she voiced. And so, they made a pinky swear.

…

"What is it, Giannini? Why are we here at a forest?" Giotto asked as he carried his son with everyone on his back.

"I have made something for little Giovo and proudly to say this is my masterpiece!" Giannini removed the sheet and a robot of Yuki was seen, though it didn't look like her. All were dumbfound and words were taken away. They stared at the machine and Giannini with somewhat tired-of-all-of-his-invention face.

"W-What's with the faces? She may look bad, but she can do her job well as a mother. It's just for a while until Yuki-san comes back"

"Yuki?"

"What is it, Gio?" Giotto asked.

"A-Anyway, look!" Giannini pressed the action button and the robot moved. However, the movement was weird. Suddenly, it raged and started to attack anything in its path.

Everyone started go battle mode, including Tsuna and attacked the robot, but an outside force couldn't shut it down.

"Take Gio away" Giotto handed over him to Tsuna and turned hyper mode. He confronted the machine and tried to slash it with his flames but it was unharmed.

"You're supposed to shut it down from the inside!" Giannini shouted.

"How?" Giotto asked.

"I-I don't know"

"What? You made this, you crappy engineer! You should've made a self-destruct button!" Gokudera shouted. "This machine intentionally made for Giovo. Of course I don't put that!" he shouted back.

"But if we don't do something, it'll destroy even the town itself" Tsuna voiced while carrying Giovo. All stood in front of the machine, trying to stand in its way.

…

"They what?" the human girl surprised of hearing the news Cozart carried.

"You need to go to them! Look, we're already in the woods. You only have to go few meters to cross the border"

"I can't" she hung her head while eyes quivering. "You know the barrier will stop me"

"Not if I help you with it. Come with me" Cozart pulled her hand and dragged her to the border. He shut down the system for few seconds.

"Get out. It will start again in few seconds"

"But…"

"Who's there?" a voice was heard, running towards their direction.

"Go now!"

"But I…"

"Tch. I have no choice" Cozart pushed Yuki outside the perimeter with force and then the barrier had activated again.

"You should know the way from here. Now, go. He needs you"

"So, there you are" 4 vampires cornered him. "H-Hey, how did you get out?"

"Go. They can't stop the system"

"What about you?"

"I'll stay here, in your place. There has to be someone who can protect them, right?" he smiled at her.

"I won't leave you!"

"Go!" he raised his voice at her. And so, she had no choice but to leave him behind.

…

"Tch. There's nothing we can do" Giotto narrowed his eyes while thinking of the worst possibility.

"Lambo-san doesn't want to die yet!" Lambo cried.

Suddenly, a figure appeared. It wore a black cape with a hood while wearing a fox mask. It raised its palm to it. All of the sudden, a cracking voice was heard from inside the machine. And finally, the robot had stopped and got destroyed.

Everyone stood in silence and jaw dropped as they saw the mystery person.

Giotto felt something from that person, so he demanded for the hood to be opened. But when the hood was removed, the person's face was hidden due to the mask. All they knew that it was a she, since she had a mid-long hair.

Giovo recognized her even if he didn't see her face. He turned happy all of the sudden. "Sis!" he shouted. He ran towards her, but Giotto caught him and carried him. "Who are you? How did my son know you?" he asked. For his answer, she opened her mask and stunned every one of them.

"You keep your promise" Giovo said in joy. "Nice to see you again, Gio" she smiled. "But I can't play with you" she turned her back away from them. "I have lied to all of you. I don't have the right… to stay" she clenched her fist tremblingly.

"Welcome back, Yuki" Tsuna said. From the stunned face, their face turned welcoming and that surprised her. "Come home, my wife. I've missed you so much" Giotto spoke. "Sis is my mother? Yay! Now we can play together!" Giovo also very happy to know she was his mother.

"Everyone…" Yuki widened her eyes and they were quivering. She didn't expect this could happen, that everyone would accept her return.

Giotto stretched his hand to her while the other was holding Giovo. Of couldn't control her emotions anymore, she ran to him and hugged him tightly. And with that one event, the family had been reunited. All with the tears of joy as well as the warm tears and smiled on her face.

"I'm home"


End file.
